The Elemental Four
by Clover715
Summary: Four Princesses yearn to have a normal life for once instead of a boring life full of routine. They soon get more then they bargain for when they learn to harness their amazing powers. Their lives soon become full of danger drama and maybe even love?
1. My Boring Life

_T_he _E_lemental _E_our 

"Once upon a time in a castle lied four untouched princesses. Each lied there like still works of art that were covered in sweat and tears. Their days as princesses were hard ones that, sadly, only they could bear. The things they had to do were so _gruesome_ that they didn't wish it on anyone else. Saints. These four amazing young women were saints, and that word wasn't even strong enough to describe them. And they were so stunning that everything that seemed beautiful looked…pathetic in comparison. These sisters, although not blood related, also were the lucky enough to be _**T**_he _E_lemental _F_our. Within every century four people are born with the ability of an element. They are chosen for a special reason, and not always were they royal since some started out as farmers or beggars. To the reason anyone was picked for the job was still very uncertain, but it was clear that people were always chosen to help the entire world. Yes, that is what fables and songs foretold but the girls didn't believe this to be true. They all discussed it and decided that they were all chosen because they were….FABULOUS!" yelled Tenten as she threw her arms in the air.

Four girls were lying around side a large Olympic sized pool trying to tan. Each of them lied there flat as a board as the hot sun beat down upon them causing them to perspire a great deal on their faces, along their backs, and in between their chest. Most uncomfortable. To their misfortune they were bored and so one of the girls, Tenten, took it upon herself to tell them a story to pass the time. It would have worked too, hadn't she made them all cheer when she mentioned how fabulous they all were.

"And we are. Fabulous." Ino told her friends as she sat up straight and pulled her head back to look up at the sun. She smiled at it and it made her purple metallic bikini sparkle. Her other friend Sakura, who was wearing the exact bikini as Ino but pink, sat up too and took a sip of her bottled water.

"Couldn't have said it better myself." She laughed. She shook her head so her long pink hair shook over her shoulders. Her attention then went over to her other friend, Hinata, who was not laying on her back but her stomach. She was currently supporting her head with her two hands and had her elbows were placed on the paved ground. Her long hair was pulled over to the right side of her shoulder. She seemed to be staring out into the distance, but all that was out there was a fence around the pool area and miles of land with the occasional tree. Sakura smirked at her innocent looking friend when she felt shade come upon her. "Ino!"

"Yeah?" she asked as she twisted her body to look at Sakura.

"Could you please blow away that cloud? It's blocking the sunlight."

"Sure. I suppose so." She said as she stood up ready to use her element when Tenten interrupted.

"While you're up could you make a small-_ish_ breeze come through here? It's hot as blazes!" she exasperated as put the back of her right hand to her forehead.

"What do I look like to you? The MAID?! Let me tell you something!" She said yelling at all of her friends. "She looks like a fat excuse for a cow with a mole on her right cheek…and I ain't talking face here."

"Hurry along now, _Hilda_." Sakura teased by calling Ino the name of the maid to whom she was referring.

Ino stared daggers at Sakura, and as she did a breeze began to pick up causing the hair she had put in a pigtail to raise upward.

"Doooooown girl." Tenten warned. "You don't want to start anything you can't finish do you?"

"Hmp. She's right Ino." Sakura smirked as she began to talk to Ino like she was her rival. "You can't beat me so just give up now."

Her eyes grew angrier. "OH! You think with a little FIRE you can beat me? PUH-lease."

"Hate to break it to you pig but Fire EATS air." Sakura told her. All the anger in Ino's eyes went away as she realized the stupidity in what she was about to do. It soon all came rushing back to her like a wild boar when Sakura muttered the word, "Duh."

"YOU'RE DEAD FOREHEAD!" Ino yelled as she stood up with twisters growing around her body. Sakura jumped up too.

"I'm going to raise HELL for you!" Sakura told her.

Before another thing could be said or done they were both extinguished with a huge splash of water that had come pouring down from the sky in a big RUSH!

"Both of you need to cool down." Came the voice of Hinata as she walked over in the middle of them. "You're both in the heat and don't even realize that you're about to fight each other because Sakura called you Hilda."

"OOOH, they just realized this." Tenten said as if she were a spectator of a match.

"Okay I'm sorry." Ino tried to say down low.

"Me too." Sakura sighed.

"Tenten get back to that fabulous story of yours would ya?" Ino asked as she sent a gust of wind up into the air to get rid of cloud blocking their sun.

"I would like to, but I'm starting to get a little too tired." she said as she yawned.

"No breeze for you then." Ino said as she shifted the air to aim at her. Her long blonde locks, while still wet, blew up into the air so nicely and her friends stared in awe.

_'What a great element to have.' _Thought Sakura. _'Each of them has a nice one, and I only have fire. The scariest element of them all. Everyone automatically assumes I'm a hot head...__**AND I'M NOT CHA!**_

"Hey Ino. Have you given any more thought about going out with my brother on a date?" Asked Tenten.

"That again?" Ino practically laughed causing Tenten to throw her an angry glare. Ino became serious. "He's very nice Tenten, and anyone would be lucky to have him but...he's so much like a brother to me. We all pretty much grew up together. I think it would be weird if I dated him, don't you?"

"Okay, just asking. I'm going to have to let him down easy again."

"Ino, send the boy a lovely fruit basket or something." Hinata giggled.

"Hinata!" they all yelled.

"Well I think he should stop pursuing her and move onto someone else...someone AFFORDABLE!"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean Hinata?" Tenten asked insulted. "You're saying the country i'm from is too poor or something?"

"Tenten I didn't mean anything like that." Hinata said sounding hurt that her friend would think that she would say such a thing. "I'm just saying if they went out now...well, by the time he became Kind Ino would have him down to his last dime!"

Both Sakura and Ino laughed.

"It's true...but I'm worth it!" she smiled.

Tenten began to laugh too. "Yeah you're right. I really do hope that my brother can move on and find someone else to help him rule our country.

"That is why you are sooooo lucky you have an older brother." Sakura commented. "You're the second oldest and don't have to worry about ruling over a country while having all the perks of being royal."

"I know! It's good to be me!" she laughed.

There were a few minutes of silence before Hinata began to talk.

"I wish I could change my face for one day and just be a normal regular person." They all gave her blank stares; she didn't mind them and sat up on her knees in excitement while her hair fell over her shoulders. "Like just walk on out of this place and be normal and not have any cares or worries at ALL! I wish I knew what that would feel like."

"Me too!" Sakura said understanding Hinata. "I used to wish that all the time. That I could go to some place where no one would know me and I could just live a normal life for once."

"HUH! That sounds like a great idea." Ino agreed. "To be normal for a day, and to not go to boring lectures or be forced to wear tight corsets in ugly frilly dresses."

"How to speak or how to walk and how to look at certain people." Tenten finished.

A huge sigh of happiness was let out of all four of them.

"But...we're all **far **from being normal." Hinata said sadly as she looked out into the distance. "Not only are we princesses BUT we're," her voice became more hushed. "_T_he _E_lemental _F_our."

"One day we should tell people about it." Sakura said. "I mean they're still searching for them and HELLO here we are."

"Well we all promised to keep it a secret...remember?" Ino reminded her.

"That day brings back memories." Tenten sighed.

"We were all so little too." Hinata mentioned out loud. "We were all by this pool too right? It was-"

"It was the first time we all met." Sakura smiled. They all looked at each other with a warm teary smile.

"All because of this alliance castle too." said Tenten. "I also recall not getting along right away either. "

"Hold up!" Ino yelled. "That was a _small _dispute we had." she argued.

"It's true but...best friends fight." Sakura said. Hinata smiled.

"Yeah best friends fight."

"Ino and Sakura are a perfect example of just that!" smiled Tenten.

"Not true!" disputed Sakura.

"Proove it!" demanded Ino.

Both Hinata and Tenten gave them a "are you kidding me stare?" as Tenten said, "Uuum, like three minutes ago."

Sakura and Ino both sweat dropped. "Oh yeah!" Ino said rubbing the back of her head nervously. Sakura made the exact same motion as Ino.

"Well...like we SAID! Best friends fight!"

"Oh lord." Hinata sighed.

"Gimme a break." Tenten mumbled as she laid back down to tan.

"Sooooo...looks like we only have three more days together." said Sakura.

"Oh come on Sakura!" Ino moaned. "I don't want to think about that. You're bringing my mood down."

"And it's contagious." Hinata moaned.

"Sorry guys!"

"It's going to be a while before we all get to see each other again." said Tenten.

"Well. Not SOO long." Hinata said on a more cheerful note. "A few weeks aren't going to kill us, it didn't the last times and it won't this time."

All of them laughed.

"Hinata you ALWAYS say that." laughed Ino.

"It's nice to have a reminder now and then." she told them.

* * *

Six hundred yards away from the pool there was a rustle in the bushes. A figure then appeared out of them. A tall male with blonde hair pulled out a pair of binoculars and looked to as far as he could see with them.

"I see...not that much." he said out loud. "But the ground is vacated. No guards to speak of. Targets _sort of _targeted. Weapons on...OUCH! HEY SASUKE WHAT'S THE BIG I-"

Another male with midnight blue hair covered the blonde's mouth. Two other males stood behind him.

"Naruto you idiot." he sighed. "I asked you for surveillance...you didn't have to go the whole ten yards with that one."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head embarrassed. "Sorry, just got carried away there."

"Aw man what an idiot." Said a dark hair male with a pineapple hair style. "We're all going to die and it's going to be his fault. I can't believe I got talked into coming on this suicide mission...and I'M the smart one."

"Exactly why you're here." Sasuke smiled.

"What **I** don't get is why I had to use stupid binoculars when Neji could have used his _wicked _eyes to see even _further _then I ever could with these plastic ones." whined Naruto.

"We can't have him wasting his ability on something so trivial." Sasuke told him.

"Naruto is sort of right." commented Neji, a long dark haired male who stood at the same height as his comrades. "I don't think it would have made much of a problem if I did a more thorough look then Naruto."

"Just do as I say." Sasuke said sounding annoyed.

"Yeah do as HIS MAJESTY tells you or..._**spt**_...Off with your head." Naruto said as he acted like his throat was being cut off.

"Na-ru-to!" Sasuke growled.

"I'm just kidding Sasuke, relax." Naruto said looking back into his binoculars as if nothing had been said. "So stealing these girls will help even the score?"

"Yes." Sasuke said with his face growing intense. "By capturing them we'll have settled the score of their kingdoms getting together to kill most of mine."

"But...it'll be like taking candy from a baby." Naruto commented as he put down his binoculars to reveal a confused expression. "A _handicapped _baby."

"We won't have to kill them as per the original plan stated." said Neji.

"Yeah, I don't really enjoy the thought of killing a woman. It's all in bad taste if you ask me." commented Shikamaru as he took on a slouching posture.

"This mission should be a piece of cake." said Sasuke as he walked a head of them. "Grab them and present them to my brother."

"_Pffft_, yeah sure. Long live King Itachi." Naruto said sounding absolutely bored.

"This is his wish...as it is mine." Sasuke said as he stared with an emotionless face in the direction of the pool area. "This is revenge for the deaths of my parents. So then," he turned and looked at his comrades. "Shall we go?" The three looked at each other.

"Lead us and we shall follow you." Neji told him.

"And even if we fail...I get paid either way. So let's go." said Shikamaru.

"Right behind you!" Naruto smirked as he gave Sasuke the thumbs up. Sasuke smirked at them all. He faced forward in the direction they were to head.

"Then come on, we'll make this quick."

All at once they all vanished up into the trees. This task however turned out to be harder then expected since each tree was placed many yards away from the other.

"**This **is probably going to take a while." said Shikamaru.

* * *

**  
**

All four girls were all lounging in a small room used only by the four of them as they always did when they would come in after lounging around the pool.

"Man….boring life." Said Tenten.

"Yeah, it won't get interesting until dinner when we can hear some gossip." Said Ino.

"No doubt." Sakura said as she twirled her long pink hair. "_Ouch_!"

"Twist your hair too tight?" asked Hinata as she rolled her head over to look at Sakura.

"No my _ouch_!"

All of the girls then sat up a little more alert. Sakura held up her right hand.

"Ew! Is that a rash?" asked Tenten.

"Nah, look it's a symbol." Said Ino.

"Fire." Whispered Hinata as the symbol for fire etched itself into her hand causing Sakura to yelp in pain.

"Is this because she can manipulate fire?" asked Tenten.

"Well what else could it be?" Asked Ino as she continued to stare at Sakura's hand.

"HUH!" gasped Hinata as she grasped her neck.

"Not you too!" cried Tenten.

"It's burning my neck!" Hinata cried out.

"Just wait a second Hinata, the pain will soon subside." Sakura told her as gave her her hand. Hinata grasped it and squeezed it tight, and as Sakura had said the pain soon disappeared.

"Let's take a look-see." Ino said as Hinata removed her hand from where the pain was. On her neck was the symbol for water in the same styling as Sakura's.

"It actually looks cool." Ino smiled. They all gave her wry looks. "What?! OKAY, I'm not saying that the fact that she now has a scar on her body is cool but the way it looks it pretty cool. I mean, it doesn't look bad!"

"Just stop Ino." Sakura sighed as Ino sweat dropped.

"Hey…I feel it too." Began Tenten as she looked down at the ground. She kicked off her slipper and on the top of her right foot was the burning symbol of earth. "_Ack_!" she cringed as she grabbed her head with both of her hands. "This stings!"

"Why is this happening?" Hinata questioned as she held her neck again.

Before anyone could even think of a response Ino gasped in pain too when her symbol for wind began to inscribe its self on her left palm. Her head twitched as she watched it scrawl on her hand.

"Why is it doing this?" she asked through another gasp of pain.

"At least they look cool." Sakura said making fun of Ino.

"This is bizarre" Ino said staring at her symbol.

"Because our lives weren't complicated enough." Commented Tenten as she stared at her symbol in an exhausted way.

"If people see these they'll know we're the elemental four!" Sakura realized.

"I can't even see mine." Hinata said scratching where it was supposed to be.

"Come ere'." Ino said as she pulled her over to a small mirror on the wall. Hinata's eyes opened wider.

"They do look cool." She said causing them all to fall over anime style.

Knock Knock Knock

"Your Highnesses?" came a voice from the other side of the door. "Is everything alright in there? May I come in?"

"Uhh….NO!" Ino yelled.

"BY THAT she means YES we're fine and NO don't come in." Sakura yelled.

"Are you sure everything is alright in there?"

"Nothing but an itsy bitsy spider!" cried Hinata. "Several actually!"

"I got em' all though." Laughed Tenten.

"Well if everything's alright then. By the way I came to inform you all that the dinner has been pushed up an hour early so if you would all be so kind to go to your respective rooms I can have your ladies in waiting up to help you change."

"Very well. Thank you Hilda!" yelled Sakura. They didn't speak a word until they could no longer hear her outside their door.

"So what do we do about these scars?" Ino asked worriedly.

"Well hiding them won't be so difficult." Said Hinata as she first looked at Tenten. "For example Tenten, you'll just need to wear shoes. Sakura, wear a dress where the sleeves end on a point and wrap around your middle finger. That should cover that up."

"Well what about mine?" asked an eager Ino.

"Wear gloves!" Tenten suggested.

"And Hinata?" asked Sakura.

"I'll just have to keep my hair down to cover it up. Hopefully this will work."

"See you guys at dinner then." Ino said with an unconvincing face on.

"Alright, good luck guys." Sakura said as they all parted ways in the hall.

* * *

**  
**

The Kitchen was full of chefs, bakers, and servers all waiting for their orders. Also among them was Naruto dressed up as a server. He checked his ear piece to make sure it was connected to the others who were all dressed up as a castle attendant.

"Sasuke, you hear me?"

"Perfect. When you serve food make sure you've got a lock on your target. Describe each of them to us so we know what we're looking for."

"How come we never even got pictures of them?" asked Shikamaru.

"How come Neji can't use his crazy eyes?" whined Naruto.

"Not that again." Sasuke moaned. "You know my precautions."

"FINE FINE…whatever." Naruto straightened his tie and headed over with the other servers.

'_This better work.' _He thought to himself.

* * *

**So I got bored and wrote this to let my creativeness flow in some different directions. If you like it TELL me and i'll make another chapter. It's not very long and first chapters are always going to be a drag, but i hope you enjoyed it. **

* * *


	2. Old Elemental Four Dispatch on the Plan

In the dining room there was classical music being played by the castles personal musicians, loads of food being served that was made by some of the _finest_ chefs in the lands, and much conversation was being shared between the Kings of the ruling lands and their daughters. Each girl however was sitting anxiously hoping that nothing more would happen to their bodies while in the presents of their fathers. Sakura kept looking at Hinata's neck nervously hoping that her hair was covering her scar the entire time.

At the top of the table the Kings were now finishing up their conversation about when they were all younger and some of the things they had gotten themselves mixed up into.

"Hiashi you were truly the bravest of us all I must say!" laughed Inoichi who was Ino's father. He, like Ino, had long blonde hair which he kept back in a ponytail.

"Yeah, but a coward none the less." Laughed Hikaru who was Sakura's father. He had spiky pink hair and a carefree attitude always upon him. Whenever he would say something that would embarrass his daughter he would always give her a loving wink.

"Karu's right!" laughed Tenma who was Tenten's father. He, just like his daughter, had chocolate brown hair and eyes to match. The top of his hair was spiky but then he would tie the rest into a short ponytail that would spike out around his shoulders. "By calling you the bravest he means to say that you were the last one to run."

Everyone at the table burst into laughter, including Hiashi.

"So I was a coward? FINE! I admit it!" Hiashi laughed. "However you couldn't say that about me today."

"Not you Hiashi." Said Inoichi. "I can't say that you're a coward anymore."

"Yeah…unless your mother-in-law walked into the room." Laughed Tenma causing another roar of laughter in the room.

"A man who is not afraid of his mother-in-law must have traveled to hell and back." Hiashi commented.

"Here HERE!" laughed Inoichi as he raised his glass. His friends followed suit and they all took a drink.

"Although," Hiashi said on a much sadder note. "No one was as brave as my brother. He not only got us into so much trouble, but also out of it."

"Why did you just ruin our good fun?" asked Hikaru. "We could've ended on a happy note, and you bring up such a sad thing."

"Then let us end it on a reverent one." Said Tenma as he raised his glass up. "For you Hizashi!"

"To Hizashi!" everyone at the table said as they raised their glassed.

After placing their glasses down Ino then cleared her throat to get all of the Kings' attention.

"Speaking of the good old days I was wondering. Do any of you know anything about the Elemental Four?"

There was silence in the room, especially since the musicians had just finished their song causing the tension to be thick between all of them.

"Hmmm, that sure does bring me back." Said Inoichi. "What did you want to know?" he asked his daughter.

"Well…like…how about, how were they chosen?"

"Oh Ino you know that." Said Inoichi.

"It's been decided that destiny picked four random people to be the Elemental Four." Said Tenma as he looked up at the ceiling. "Anyone could have been them, but they were _born_ it. There was no way to figure out where and when the next one would be born."

"How could you tell if they were?" asked Sakura. "I mean if a baby was born…was there a sign that they were?"

"No sign. None at all." said Tenma. "I believe that if you were an Elementalist that you would figure it out by accident."

"Accident?" asked Inoichi. "Well yes true. Out of the blue one day your power would awaken and that would be that, or maybe when they were stuck in a great deal of trouble it would awaken. It was, however, an Elementalist's job to find the other three. Together they would protect our world from strong evil and dark magic."

"Really? Wow that sounds scary." Commented Hinata.

"Anything else you know?" asked an eager Tenten.

The Kings all began to think but came up with nothing, until Hiashi cleared his throat.

"Actually, it's been said that the Elemental Four all had their symbol on their bodies."

All of the girl's hearts stopped at the mention of the marks.

"Where on their bodies?" asked Hinata.

"Anywhere on them. I'm not sure if it mattered where they were…if it even had any significance at all but they were always found on different parts."

"How odd." Tenten whispered.

"What's odd?" asked her father.

"Uh! The marks. That they would need marks on their bodies. It's just odd, and it seems pointless….so don't you think that they would have a reason?"

"They do." Said Hiashi in a serious voice. "The Elemental Four were very powerful you see, so you realize everyone would be after them."

"People probably would want to kill them." Ino said little above a whisper.

"Exactly." Hiashi said. "So they each had a protector. A Conqueror is what they were called if memory serves me right. Protectors was another name given to them by the people who marveled at them. You could say they were just as famous as the Elemental Four."

"How could they protect them? And how were they chosen?" asked Tenten.

"Same way as the Elemental Four right?" asked Hikaru.

"Yes. They were born to be Protectors." Said Inoichi.

"And they were born with powers too." Said Tenma. "Just like the Elementalists. The powers they possessed were used to help them protect the Four and to also join the Four in battle."

"So The Elemental Four were born with someone destined to them." Sakura said in a dreamy way.

"Yes, but the Protectors could be boys or girls. The gender didn't matter." Said Hikaru.

"The Protectors had to be pretty fearless since their whole existence was to keep the Elemental Four, or the one they were to protect, alive." Said Hiashi.

"So when an Elementalist was born was their protector born on the same day too?" asked Tenten.

"No, the ages were always different." Said Inoichi. "A protector could be much younger then the Elementalist. That's happened before I believe."

"The whole thing is so confusing." Said Hinata as she rubbed her neck.

"Why are you girls so interested in all of this?" asked Hiashi.

"Well…we were all talking," began Ino.

"AND…we were wondering if anyone knew if the next Four were here yet." Continued Sakura.

"no." sighed Hikaru. "No one knows that whereabouts of the next four, or for that matter of the Protectors."

"I only hope that it is soon." Said Tenma.

"But for all we know, they have stopped coming." Said Inoichi.

"However," continued Hiashi. "We all pray that they will reveal themselves to us soon, before another war is brought up."

"So you said that when and Elementalist discovers their power they go searching for the other three right?" asked Hinata. "What happens when they all are finally together?"

"I…don't know." Said Hiashi. "Perhaps that is when they get their marks."

'_No….that can't be right.' _Thought Ino. _'We've all known each other to be the Elemental Four for a long time and we just got these marks.'_

"Or maybe they get their marks when it's finally time for them to start perfecting their element." Thought Inoichi. "I honestly have no idea." He laughed.

"But who teaches them?" asked Tenten.

"Well it's said that when they are all together they go and find their protectors." Said Hikaru as he took a bite of his meal.

"Then after that they go to some sort of place." Said Inoichi who also took another bite of his meal.

"Where?!" all the girls yelled.

"Don' know." Inoichi said after he swallowed. "Nobody does."

The girls then all looked distraught.

'_How on Earth do we find our protectors?' _thought Sakura. _'Then how do we go to where we need to go to to learn our elements properly?'_

_**!SMASH!**_

Everyone's attention was then brought to the server who had tripped and fell with everything crashing on the floor.

"Are you alright?" Ino asked him as he lay on the floor motionless. Sakura and Hinata stood up slightly to look across the table to see if they could see him. He had fallen right next to where Ino and Tenten had been sitting. The music then stopped playing as one of the musicians came over to help the server up to his feet.

"Excuse me." The server apologized as he rubbed the back of his head embarrassed. "I'll just pick these up then." He bent back down to the ground and picked up the smashed pieces of glass. Luckily it had only been glasses that fell onto the marbled floor instead of plates with food on them. Most untidy.

As he picked up the pieces he was shocked to see another pair of hands helping him. He looked up to see none other than King Hikaru with a smiling face.

"No worries. These floors aren't easy to walk on." The King said as he continued to pick up the pieces. The server couldn't move. He was flabbergasted that THE KING was on his own knees and was picking up glass on the floor along side him. No King would do that!

"I got you some more pieces!" came another voice from behind the server. He turned to see King Inoichi picking up pieces as well. The server's eyes grew even wider with his jaw dropping slightly.

"I'll help too!" Ino said as she was about to come off of her chair.

"Please dear don't!" said an alert Inoichi who stopped picking up pieces to look at his daughter. "I don't want you getting cut on the glass. It could easily get stuck in your skin."

"I'll go grab a broom then!" offered Sakura as she stood up since there was no glass on her side of the table.

"Very well!" her father smiled as Sakura ran off towards the kitchen to ask for a broom.

"Looks like we got all of it though." Said Inoichi as he stood up with all the pieces in his hands.

"You must be a new server here." Hikaru said to the server. "I haven't seen you here before, what's your name lad?"

The server then shook his head back into reality that the King was talking to him. "My name…is..Naruto." he said still in shock of the kindness of the Kings.

"Very good to see you!" they both stood up with Naruto and Hikaru's eyes never parting. Hikaru then became more serious. "You know….oddly enough you look very familiar. Hiashi, look at this young man. Doesn't he look familiar?"

Naruto turned quickly at Hiashi who sat at the head of the table. He gulped at seeing the stern expression in his eyes.

"Now that I think about it…he does."

'_How do they know me? Do they know what Kingdom I come from? They must know I'm with Sasuke then!'_

"You're wrong Karu." Hiashi decided. "We recognize him because he is a server here. That is all."

Naruto let out the breath he had been holding. "I have been working here for a long time. You've seen me before Sire but have never acknowledged me." He lied.

"Then that must be it." Hikaru said as Sakura came over with another servant who had a broom and dust pan.

"Ah! Here we go!" Inoichi said as he put all his pieces into the dustpan.

Naruto and the other servant swept up and left back to the kitchen.

"What fun that was!" proclaimed Tenma. "It sure did bring us away from our discussion on the Elemental Four."

"A conversation that should be preserved for another day I think." Said Hikaru as he pushed his plate away from himself. "Now I think I shall retire for the night."

"As will I." said Hiashi as he and the other Kings stood up.

The girls all stood up and they exited the dining room with their fathers to the main hall where the stairs were.

"Good night father!" Ino cried as she hugged her father.

Each girl followed suit and then the Kings and their daughters all parted ways. The girls all headed to another stair case and went to their own rooms. Once dressed they all went to Tenten's room and sat on her bed. Each of them still concerned about their scars.

"This whole thing just got even more messed up." sat Ino as she stared at her palm.

"Now we have to find our protectors." Said Sakura.

"But we can't do that unless we tell our fathers we are the Four." Mentioned Hinata.

"But…you know." Began Tenten as she got all of their attention. "If we don't say anything then we won't be hunted. If no one knows what we are then we'll be safe."

"That's true." Said Ino.

"But…what about our duty?" asked Hinata. "What about protecting people from evil and dark magic?"

No one responded.

"Hey…I didn't ask to have this power." Tenten said monotone.

"No one ever does!" Hinata cried. "I think we should follow our destiny. We're already behind schedule!" they smirked at Hinata's remark.

"Hinata when did you get so brave?" asked a smiling Sakura.

"When I heard how desperate my father sounded about them reappearing."

Each of them began to think about how their own fathers talked about the Four and how wonderful it would be if they would return to them.

"Then…maybe we should tell them." Said Tenten at last.

"So many people need us." Said Ino.

"And even after we find our protectors we'll just wing the next part." Laughed Sakura.

"Who said we had to go to a special place to train?" laughed Tenten. "We could practice here at this castle! There's no one for miles!"

"Tenten's right! It's the perfect spot." Exclaimed Hinata.

"So first thing tomorrow we tell them?" asked Ino.

"After breakfast." Decided Sakura. "We'll do it somewhere privately."

"No one will know until we hear it from our fathers." Said Tenten.

"Sounds like a plan." Ino said as she stretched and rolled off the bed causing a small thump. "See you all in the morning!" she waved as she opened the door to the hall. "HUH!"

"What's wrong?" asked Hinata as they all got off of the bed.

"Oh…oh sorry nothing except the lights. The ones in the hall, they're all off."

"Scared of the dark Ino?" teased Sakura.

"Hmp! Goodnight!" she said as she left the room.

"Good night guys." Tenten said as she went under her covers. Hinata and Sakura shut the door behind them and went in different directions of the hall to their own rooms that weren't exactly conveniently located near Tenten's.

'_Weren't the lights on when we came to Tenten's room?' _thought Sakura. She then noticed up ahead of her was Ino with someone sneaking up right behind her. With a little more thought she figured it was Tenten's brother Taro who always liked to scare Ino, in a teasing way. _'He should learn by now that the way to Ino's heart is not through scaring her.' _She then took a turn in the hall to where her door was. She entered her room and grabbed her book off of her nightstand. Before getting into her bed she looked at her scar again. Tomorrow she would tell her father about her being able to manipulate the element fire, and she hoped that he would support her.

**

* * *

**

Sasuke was with his comrades in the kitchen as they went over the plan on capturing the princesses. First part was done. Knock out the electricity in the west side of the wing where the princesses all slept. Now they were listening to Shikamaru for the next step.

"Just knock them out quickly." Said Shikamaru as he shook his bottle of the substance that would take care of the job quickly. "Put some of this stuff on a handkerchief and cover up their nose and mouth. Once they breathe this in they should be knocked out with in a few seconds."

"Nice invention." Naruto commented.

"I have a map here of the upstairs level of this palace. It wasn't hard to come by." Said Neji as he laid it on the floor. "The red "X" indicates a room where a princess is located. This room belongs to Princess Ino."

"Long blonde hair, blue eyes and pretty tall." Said Naruto.

"Shikamaru that'll be yours." Said Sasuke.

"This room belongs to Princess Tenten." Continued Neji.

"Brown hair, kept in buns. Brown eyes and has some fighting experience." Naruto informed them all.

"Neji then you'll take her." Sasuke ordered.

"This room belongs to Princess Hinata."

"Uh oh." Said Naruto as he looked embarrassed. "I don't really think I remember this girl."

"She wasn't at dinner?" asked Sasuke.

"Uuuuh, well she might have been but I don't remember. OH, she must have been the quiet girl. I didn't get a chance to look at her since the Kings were all talking to me."

"She was King Hiashi's daughter, what did he look like?" asked Shikamaru.

"Long dark hair…like Neji's, and Lavender eyes….like Neji's." Naruto reported.

"She was quiet you say?" asked Sasuke. "Then she should be easy to capture Naruto so why not you take her then."

Naruto growled. "HEY! Don't undermine my abilities Sasuke!"

"Neji and the last one?" Sasuke asked ignoring Naruto.

"Right here, this is Princess Sakura."

"Long pink hair and that's pretty much all you need to know." Said Naruto.

"Alright, now memorize the way you're going." Began Sasuke. "After the capture we all want to split up in different directions, but then we'll meet at the rendezvous point. Are we all ready?" there was a silent nod. "Then…DISPATCH!"

With in a second they all disappeared as they all quickly headed in the direction of their targets. The plan was now commencing.

**

* * *

**

Neji was the first to leave the castle with his capture in hand. Princess Tenten was rather light and was easy for him to carry over his shoulder. He wasn't detected yet, and if his friends were just as successful as he was, no one would know what they did until breakfast came. He'd have to rest up soon to get some of his energy back but then he would hurry his way back to the rendezvous point.

**

* * *

**

When Shikamaru reached Ino's room he was surprised to find it empty. He decided to wait there for a while incase she would come in. So he waited by the door so he could catch her off guard, and just as he had predicted she had entered it.

"Stupid Taro. Scared me half to death!" Ino went over to her vanity and plopped her head down over her arms. "There is no way I'm marrying him." She sniffled as she looked up into her mirror to look at herself but was shocked to see someone standing right behind her. Before a scream could be heard Shikamaru had placed the handkerchief over her face. She began to muffle a scream but then it died out as she fell limp. Shikamaru pocketed his handkerchief and placed Ino on his back. He didn't get a huge look at her but he decided that she was pretty. He walked over to her window and smirked at the convenience of a huge tree that would help him get down to the ground quicker.

"Naruto was right, like taking candy from a baby."

**

* * *

**

Sasuke had no trouble finding Princess Sakura's room. The only difficult thing for him was she was just lying on her bed reading a book. There was no way for him to get close to her without her screaming out for help. He would have to wait for her to go to sleep before he could even get close to her. He decided to go out of the nearby window that was in the hallway and land on the terrace right outside of her room. There he would wait and watch her until she would fall asleep so he could take her and go.

'_I wonder if anyone else is having this kind of difficulty.' _

**

* * *

**

Hinata was now officially lost. It was too dark in the hall way and she made a wrong turn a _long_ time ago. On her way, luckily, she found a maid's jacket hanging on a hook by a door. She was only in her pajamas and it was pretty cold out in the halls since the ground was made of marble. She put it on with the intentions of giving to Hilda to return. But now that she was warmer it didn't help her other problem of being lost.

'_If I find a servant they can lead me back to my room I'm sure.' _She thought to herself she began to open up doors to find someone. _'Oh! This hall looks familiar. Maybe I was here already.' _She continued to find her way down the hall when she noticed a figure up ahead. Her whole body was then full of relief when she saw a servant; she quickened her pace to keep up with them since they had just taken a turn. When she had taken the turn too she slipped, fell, and toppled over the person who she had been following.

"Hey are you okay?" the male servant asked. He took a look at her jacket. "Oh you're a gardener, what are you doing up this late at night?"

Hinata was dumbstruck as she stared up at the person she had just run into. His eyes seemed to be some sort of deep color, and his face looked so masculine. Her heart began to flutter as he stared at him. She was so busy staring at his eyes that she didn't hear his question.

"I'm sorry!" she blurted out finally. "For running into you…and for not getting off of you." she then pushed herself up and he stood up as well. He was much taller then she had anticipated, and this made her a little dizzy.

"It's alright no problem. I was lost anyways; can you tell me how to get somewhere?"

"I uh…I wish I could, but I'm lost too." She admitted. _'I guess he doesn't realize who I am.'_

"I guess we're both in bad luck then." He laughed. "Sorry but I have to hurry now."

"U..UH wait!" Hinata blurted as she grabbed his arm when he was turning. "Perhaps…do you know the way to the main stairs? Then I could find my way."

He smiled at her. "They're right there." He said as he pointed a staircase that was only a few yards away. Hinata felt embarrassed.

"Actually that's the other stair case. Even better!! Thank you for your help." Hinata said as she bowed.

"I didn't do much; if I wasn't here you wouldn't have run into me and would have seen them for yourself."

"Oh no, I was following you." she admitted bashfully. "I came looking for help and if I didn't see you then I would never have made it this way. So thank you." she took a small step back and stood in the moon's light coming from a far off window.

'_Oh wow! She's beautiful, way too pretty to be an ordinary gardener. Maybe after we get back to our kingdom with the four princesses I could sneak back to here and be a servant again for a while.' _He noticed her long hair was a dark blue and it shown beautifully with the light hitting it.

"Good night." She said as she turned and headed for her room.

Naruto was left standing stunned as he watched her walk back around the corner. "G'night." He said to himself. He shook his head to get back to normal.

'_I need to find Princess Hinata's room quick or Sasuke will be pissed at me!' _

* * *

**_Okay...i'm just shocked that i wrote this soooo fast. but i HAD to do something to get my mind off of school which just started for me. _**

**_So with school starting expect later updates._**

**_HOPE YOU ENJOYED!_**


	3. No Ramen for YOU

**I didn't check this chapter for spelling errors...so expect a TON of them. I mean you know me i always spell everthing wrong. ENJOY**

* * *

"_Now don't forget to wear a mask when you grab the princesses. No sense in getting ID'd here." Said Shikamaru. "Especially if one of the princesses escaped from us."_

"_Come on. A bunch of prissy little girls escape from __**us**__? Well that sure is highly unlikely." Said Naruto._

"_As true as that is Naruto you know I like taking precautions." Said Sasuke who was leaning against the kitchen's wall. "Once Neji gets here we'll go over everything again."_

_As Neji walked in Naruto began to wonder about the four Kings he had encountered earlier at dinner. _

'_**Could they truly have been the same Kings who joined forces and killed our Kingdom? I always imagined them to be cruel tyrants, but they seemed so kind and acted like little kids. How could they be the same kings?'**_

_**

* * *

**_

Neji didn't stop running with his princess on his back all night making him the very first person at the rendezvous point. It was a small shack in the middle of the woods but not far from a small clearing where there was a pound. Neji had tied his princess to a chair. She didn't wake up or stir for that matter, and it was nearly noon. Neji had on a mask that only covered his nose and mouth leaving his eyes exposed. He kept the door opened up and leaned up against the frame. It was pretty hot out and by noon it would be near ninety degrees. A light breeze blew in now and then but he didn't open the windows incase the princess tried to scream. He didn't bother gagging her since the chances of someone coming across their hideout was pretty slim, _**and**_ he was probably going to be bored so he might as well have someone to talk to. That is _if_ she woke up.

So he rested against the door. Sasuke would be pretty mad if he found out that he hadn't rested and just ran continuously, so he decided on not mentioning it. He then glanced at the girl and then back ahead. It was quiet. He wanted to enjoy the silence before Naruto and the others got there….but mostly Naruto. But thinking about Naruto made him think of what he had said earlier.

"_She was King Hiashi's daughter, what did he look like?" asked Shikamaru._

"_Long dark hair…like Neji's, and Lavender eyes….like Neji's."_

'_Eyes like mine…hair like mine. What does all that mean? People can look like other people but…I have never seen anyone with the same color eyes I have. When Naruto comes back with Princess Hinata I'll have to inspect her.'_

Neji now began to feel uneasy. He grew up an orphan and never knew his family. He didn't even know his real name. The only thing he did remember was 'Neji'. That was the only thing that he could hear go through his mind. Different voices would say the name always in a kind way or sometimes in an ecstatic way. When he was younger and someone asked him what his name was the only thing he could tell them was 'Neji'. So then after his name was Neji, whether it belonged to him or not it was now his…and his only real possession.

"HUH!"

Neji tilted his head towards the princess. She was now awake.

"So much for the peace and quiet." He said as he took a step near her.

**

* * *

**

Tenten's neck was _killing_ her. She felt as stiff as a bored. She went to rub her neck but her body was restrained. She couldn't move at all! Her eyes slowly opened and she took in her surroundings. When they landed on a figure of a man she gasped.

"HUH!"

He tilted his head towards her. His glare pierced her very soul.

"So much for the peace and quiet." He said as he took a step near her.

'_If I could move my hands I could get out of here no sweat!' _she thought to herself. _'Even so…if I used my powers he would know I was an Elementalist. I would be found and probably be worth more then I am as just the princess.'_

"Aren't you going to talk?" he asked her.

She didn't respond and looked away from his eyes.

"It's fine if you don't" he told her as he went back over to the door frame. Her head shot back up at him. "I actually prefer you stay quiet."

It was so weird for Tenten to look at him. He seemed so familiar to her. His eyes scared her a lot. From where she sat they looked like ice, but his hair is what made him so familiar.

'_Hiashi!' _she thought. _'He looks just like Hinata's father. Almost exactly!'_

She searched the room with her eyes. Just an ordinary room with several more wooden chairs and a beat up arm chair made of torn up leather. _'Living the big life I see.' _She thought referring to her captor. She then studied him. His leaning posture showed her some shuriken poking out from under his black jacket. His pockets in his tattered jean shorts looked full of something too. He had bandages on his arms and some on his leg wrapping all the way up.

'_So he's a skilled fighter, or at least appears to be one.' _

"What do you want with me?" Tenten finally asked.

"Hm. You're voice isn't shaking at all. I'm shocked to say the least." He told her as he continued to stare out the door.

"Am I supposed to be scared?" she asked him. He shrugged his shoulders and turned towards her. Her heart froze as his eyes met hers. They scared her completely.

"Most people would…_especially_ spoiled little princesses."

"Don't underestimate your opponent." She warned.

He smirked and let out a 'hmp'. "My opponent? You speak as if we were equals. Clearly you are no match for me…not many people would be."

'_Would be? What does he mean? He must be at least my age or older.'_

"Who are you?" she demanded.

"Neji, and I don't really mind telling you this since you won't be escaping."

"Then why do you wear a mask?"

She had gotten him and she knew it.

"Simply…orders. That is all." He looked back out of the door.

"So you're just a flunky? Ha, and I was worried." Tenten said sounding more relieved. Neji tensed at this.

"Say whatever you like, but you're still the one tied to that chair."

Tenten glared evilly at him. She loathed him heavily at that moment.

"So why did you capture me? Does your boss need some quick cash? Is he going to kill me? Rape me? Make me his wife? Eat me? Cut up my body and serve it to his pet dragon? Use me as a.."

"What's your deal?" asked an annoyed Neji.

"I'm just curious." She shrugged as she waited for her answer.

"I don't know." He said looking back out the door.

"Oh right…you're the flunky."

Within a second Neji disappeared from the door and reappeared in front of Tenten with a kunai at her throat.

"You have no idea who you're talking to." He growled.

"Something tells me you're not even allowed to put a mark on me." She smirked. Just then she felt something dripping down her face. Neji removed the kunai from her neck and showed it to her. At the tip was some blood. He had cut her left cheek.

"I can do whatever I want to you, as long as you're still alive. Any of that can include torturing you as we wait here."

Tenten then grew scared and her face showed it. Neji felt satisfied and then hid his kunai back in his pocket. He walked back to the door and leaned on the frame as he stared at her. When he looked back outside the door he heard Tenten ask him a question in a quivering voice.

"Y..your eyes……..Th..They're Hyuuga eyes."

"You know nothing about _these_ eyes." He told her as he continued staring.

"They're lavender. Only Hyuugas have that color and no one else."

Neji's heart stopped and he looked right back at Tenten stunned. His arms began to shake a little. His eyes were Hyuuga eyes.

'_Does this make me a Hyuuga? Is that possible?!' _

"So you are a Hyuuga." Tenten confirmed with his silence. Neji then retained his cool composure.

"My eyes are this color for another reason, not because of where I am from." He told her without his eyes lingering away from hers. He then went right back to looking outside for the Umpteenth time. "These eyes are evil." He said as if he cursed them.

She gulped and her forehead began to perspire. He was beginning to scare her and she badly wanted to get out of there, and when she looked up at the door expecting to see him he was gone.

"Hm?" _'Where'd he go? I guess I should try to find a way to escape. There's nothing sharp around me and even my legs are tied to this chair. I'm obviously not his first prisoner. I wonder when everyone at the castle will notice I'm gone. Or maybe they have.' _She looked towards the windows and the door to see if she could see the sun's position so she could know what time it was. _'Looks like it could be noon or one.' _She decided. _'They're probably looking for me even now.' _

Tenten sat alone for a half hour in silence. She didn't know where Neji went or when he would be back so she wasn't sure if it was a good idea to escape or not. In the end she decided to at least loosen her restraints. She shoved her body to the right against the ropes and then to the left. She repeated this for some time and they did seem to loosen but not enough so she could escape, only to be more comfortable.

"This really sucks." She said to know one. While looking down at her tied up body she began to grow angry. Here she was tied to a damned wooden chair that she couldn't break free from in her NIGHTGOWN! Her blood began to boil. She had kept calm long enough.

"LET ME GOOO!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. "That felt good." She sighed.

"Tenten!" yelled an eccentric voice.

"Oh my gosh….INO?!!!" she yelled as she began hitting against her restraints again. Unfortunately she had hit too hard to the right and fell over with a thud.

"Tenten!" Yelled the frantic Ino from outside.

Although she had hurt herself and felt completely embarrassed given the circumstances she was relieved that the others had come to look for her.

Footsteps were heard coming closer to the door, but they weren't rushing they were merely walking. Right before Tenten's eyes a guy walked in with Ino thrown over his shoulder like a rag doll. He placed her on a wooden chair.

"Man, it's about time!" he said as he fell to the floor on his butt exhausted.

"I don't weigh _that_ much." Ino said sounding insulted as she stared down at her captor. "So are you just going to let me sit here on this chair or are you going to tie me to it?" she yelled annoyed.

"Ino!" Tenten yelled to get her attention. "What the hell are you DOING!?"

"Same as you, I being captured." She put bluntly.

"SAVE US! UNTIE ME!" She yelled.

"Don't even think about it Ino." warned the guy on the floor who was taking heavy breaths.

"He's right. Besides there's another guy outside. No way we could escape."

Tenten then gave Ino a look, one that she could decipher well.

"If worse comes to worse," Ino began to tell her. "We will."

Tenten then nodded in agreement. They would only reveal their powers only in a time of crisis.

"You'll what?" asked the guy.

"None of _your_ business." Ino said rolling her eyes.

"Why haven't you tied her up yet?" asked the voice of Neji who was standing over the guy on the floor.

"I was getting there." He said as he yawned.

"You're really not good at this thing Shikamaru." Ino commented.

"So there are TWO flunkies." Tenten said understanding. She received hard glares from both guys.

"Shikamaru, tie her up and meet me outside." Commanded Neji as he left.

He did as he was told and tied Ino down to a chair just like Tenten, however nobody did anything about her being on the floor.

"Can you AT LEAST pick me UP!?" she asked Shikamaru as he was leaving.

He sighed and looked at her.

"no." he put simply.

Once he left Tenten became frustrated and shook her body rapidly making a bunch of noise.

"Grrrrr this is SOOO INFURIATING!" she yelled.

"Save your strength Tenten, you might as well stay there until the others get here." Ino told her.

"How come you're acting so calm about this?!" asked a frustrated Tenten. "And you had your arms free. You could have done _something_!" she told her a little more hushed.

"I know, but we all promised not to; and when I found out that we were all going to be brought here I decided not to resist until we all decided what to do."

Tenten sighed and then relaxed her body. "You're right. We'll just wait for Sakura and…wait! They're coming too?! How do you know?"

"Shikamaru told me." She put bluntly. "The guy who took me."

"He just _told_ you. How?!"

"I asked him."

Tenten then sweat dropped. She would have fell over anime style, but she was already on the ground.

"So can you explain all of this?"

"Well, he said how two others would be taking Hinata and Sakura. They were already going to be here or they were on their way. That's all he told me." Ino looked over to the window.

"How come you're being so brave?" Tenten asked.

"Because I need to be." She said as noble as a princess would. "Plus, a hot guy kidnapped me…what's so scary about that?"

Tenten let out a small giggle. "You would say that."

"We'll know what to do when Sakura and Hinata get here." Ino said looking back at Tenten. "We'll kick their asses and run to the castle. There's really no reason to be afraid, it's kind of like a crash course in our abilities."

"Well that's true." Tenten agreed. "Except the other guy, Neji, he was really fast. He cut my cheek and I didn't even feel it."

"WAIT! He kissed your cheek?!" Ino asked excited.

"INO! Pay attention when I'm talking to you! I said cut."

"Well now that you mention it there is blood dripping off of your face. The rest of the view isn't so pleasant." She said meaning her nightgown and how it was riding up. "Is that the one I just brought you? I knew you would like pink silk."

"I sure did pick the right time to try it out." Tenten sighed.

"Well it looks great! I mean the upper half of you not the half where I can see your underwear."

"Je, thanks." Tenten said sarcastically. "It's exactly like the one you're wearing cept yours is purple."

"I wonder how long before the others get here." Ino said changing subject.

"Hopefully not soon, I just got comfortable." They both let out small laughs, but they weren't in any laughing matter. They were both still tied up in a small shack of some sort in the middle of God only knows where.

**

* * *

**

"So what are they up to?" Shikamaru asked Neji. They were standing by the pound both facing it and having their backs to the shack. Neji's face was concentrating hard and the veins near his eyes were all puffing out.

"They're…laughing." He told him.

"They aren't taking this seriously." Shikamaru said disapprovingly. "I don't even think I struck fear into my princess. She only wanted to talk."

"Mine got annoying. I just threatened to harm her and she got real scared." Neji said as his face began to relax. "There's something different about them."

"You think so too?"

"They're just too calm in this sort of situation. Some people would be calm, but wouldn't you think that girls would be freaking out more then this?" Neji asked as he looked at Shikamaru.

"To me it feels like they have some back up plan. I heard so when I brought Ino in. She said, 'If worse comes to worse we will.' So what does that mean?"

"Maybe for someone to come and help them?" Neji wondered out loud. "They could have been tricking you with their words."

"Well that's true. Maaaan girls are so troublesome." He said as he lay down on the ground. "And Sasuke and Naruto are taking forever."

"Do you think they got caught?"

"No way. Those two make a great fighting team. If their in a bind the other will help."

"It's just not like Sasuke to not be punctual."

"Hey, it happens to the best of us." Shikamaru admitted. "Besides, now we can go to sleep. Nothing wrong with that."

He closed his eyes. Neji looked out over the water.

"I'll just look for them anyways." He said as he began to focus his eyes. "Byakugan!" He shouted. He moved his head in the direction of the castle. He looked around a moment until he noticed Naruto and Sasuke running with a princess each on his back.

"So where are they?" Shikamaru asked.

"Less then a mile. They should be here in about ten minutes.

"Good. I could use a nap." Shikamaru said putting his hands behind his head and relaxing.

Neji looked down at his comrade and smirked. Soon the others would get here and the rest of the plan could happen.

**

* * *

**

When Naruto and Sasuke had arrived they each had a princess on their back just like Neji said they would. Naruto had Sakura and Sasuke had Hinata.

"_Wait_, don't you have the wrong girls?" asked Shikamaru.

"We had a hard time getting them, so we switched." Sasuke put simply.

"Well tie em up already." Shikamaru said as he yawned.

Sasuke quickly tied up the sleeping Hinata who was still knocked out, and when Naruto finished tying down Sakura she had begun to wake up.

"Wait." Sakura said in a weak voice. Naruto turned to look at her. Sasuke stopped at the door. "You're….Na..ruto."

"Yeah!" Ino said remembering. "The servant!"

"You were pretending to be one weren't you?" Tenten said figuring it all out.

"Well…" he said sounding solemnly. "I always wanted to be an actor!" he sneered. They all gave him evil looks.

"Come on Naruto." Sasuke said from under his mask. Naruto began to walk out but as soon as Sasuke was out of the shack he turned and looked at Hinata.

He was still upset that the girl he found to be gorgeous was the princess who he was supposed to capture. He looked at her sadly. She was so nice to him earlier. It was awful that they had to take her like this all because of something their fathers' had done. But he swore to always help Sasuke no matter what the cost was. They were best friends after all, and Sasuke had helped him countless times without hesitation.

Naruto continued his way out of the shack to his friends. They were all by the pound, and to Naruto they all looked like three black spots all huddled near each other since they were all wearing black.

"Naruto you ready?" Sasuke asked him.

He smiled at his friends. "Yeah, sure am. By the way did anyone notice the girl on the floor?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Oh well."

"So we just gonna leave her like that?"

"Didn't you?" asked Shikamaru.

"Hmp…good point." Naruto said crossing his arms.

"Now that we have them we should take them straight to the castle." Said Neji as he looked at his other friends.

"Right. We'll rest up and leave at nightfall." Said Sasuke. "For now we'll rest. Naruto make us some meals."

"Yes your majesty." He growled as he went back to the shack to grab some instant ramen. "But you're getting ramen."

"What else is knew?" said Neji.

A vein in Naruto's head began to throb.

When he reached the shack he realized that it would be awkward to go into since all of the girls in there would be giving him evil looks.

'_Hn, I can handle a few girls.' _He told himself.

He stepped in and got cold glares from the three girls. Hinata wasn't giving him any eye contact what so ever, and he didn't blame her.

"_Now_ what do you want?" asked Ino.

"Hey! I'm just here to make us some food." He told them as he went to the corner of a room were a storage cabinet was.

"Oh! What are we having servant boy?" asked a delighted Tenten.

"You're not having any. And _We're_ having ramen." He said trying to make them hungry.

"Blech! Ramen!" Sakura said in disgust.

"That stuff is so gross." Ino commented.

"Servant boy couldn't you have thought of anything better to make?" asked Sakura.

"Hn, you ARE all spoiled." Naruto hissed as he grabbed packs of ramen and put them all in a metal pot.

"We just have good taste." Tenten commented. "What taste were you brought up with?"

"Yeah servant boy tell us." Hinata said joining in.

"Hey I have FINE taste!" he hollered.

Sakura corked an eyebrow. "No you don't"

"Yeah, your taste tastes like ramen." Ino said in a gagging way.

"AMAZINGLY GREAT RAMEN!" He corrected them.

"I'll believe it when I taste it." Tenten said.

"Hm. I don't think so. You'll just have to take my word, and you can just use your noses while you smell us eat it."

He then charged out of the shack and out of sight.

"Damn." Cursed Sakura. "I thought that would work for sure."

"So guys, what do we do?" asked Ino. "These guys might want to kill us."

"No, it has to be more then that." Hinata commented.

"Well we can't just use our powers." Sakura said grudgingly.

"Can I just bring something up?" asked Tenten. "Weren't we going to tell our fathers anyways? Well now we might as well use them."

"She has a point." Said Ino as she looked at her friend still lying on the floor.

"No. We shouldn't use them unless it's a complete emergency." Sakura told them. "If things get hairy around here we'll escape with them."

Hinata nodded. "That's what we need to do. We're worth a lot now, but we could be worth so much more if we were discovered."

"Alright." Ino said.

"Fine, fine, you two win." Tenten sighed. She looked at Hinata's outfit and envied her. She had silk lavender shorts on with a long matching tank top on, but she was also wearing a pink robe. Sakura was wearing a very girly and frilly nightgown made of nice warm cotton. "Does anyone else wish we were taken when we were in better clothes?"

"Yeah." They all said at once.

**

* * *

**

Hidden in bushes yards away from the shack were two dark figures. The first figure came away from the bushes with binoculars.

"Yes, that's them. Those four girls will cost a **real** pretty penny."

"Why's that?" asked the other figure.

"Idiot! They're all princesses! If we get them we can hold them for ransom or for a reward!"

"What will cost more?"

"I don't know, but we're going to find out soon. Follow me!"

In a flash they disappeared.

**

* * *

**

As the four guys ate their ramen Shikamaru couldn't help but wonder why it took Naruto so long to get the ingredients.

"They were all calling me servant boy, and denying the amazing power that ramen has over ones soul and mouth. They were trying to trick me into giving them some so I could prove them wrong."

"_Does_ sound like something you would do." Said Sasuke.

Throb Throb

Neji then added, "But you forget when It concerns something Naruto deeply loves,"

"AKA Ramen!"(Shikamaru)

Throb Throb

"His mind is clear and focused."

"SHUT UP ALREADY!" Naruto yelled with several throbbing veins in his head.

They all laughed at Naruto. Once he was cooled down Shikamaru motioned to the shack.

"Do you think we _should_ feed them?"

"If you want to feed them so bad you can give them your own ramen." Said Sasuke as he continued to eat. Shikamaru went back to eating too.

When they had all finished eating Shikamaru took all of the dishes and washed them up in the pond. Neji leaned up against a tree and closed his eyes in meditation. Naruto sat and watched Shikamaru wash the dishes as if he was memorized by it. Sasuke grabbed the four roles Naruto had brought with him to accompany the ramen meal. They were pretty stale so no one ate them. He then walked them over to the shack, but stopped dead in his tracks when he felt the eyes of his comrades watching him. He turned to see Neji with his eyes opened and Shikamaru and Naruto with their heads turned.

"This bread is stale." He yelled to them. "We might as well give it to them."

There was no objection and Sasuke proceeded into the shack with a small blush of embarrassment on his face.

The second he had stepped in he dropped everything and ran back out.

"They're gone!" he yelled.

"What?!" they all yelled.

"Neji!" Sasuke commanded.

"Byakugan!" he yelled. He began to scope the area with his eyes. They soon grew wide in shock. "They're being taken away by two men! That direction!" he yelled pointing behind the shack.

"Let's go!" Sasuke yelled as they all jumped up into the trees being led by Neji.

"What do they look like?" asked Shikamaru.

"Can't tell. They're both dressed up in black. Each girl is over a shoulder. WAIT! They're stopping!"

"Where at?" yelled Sasuke.

"Some sort of shack." Neji told him.

"Robbers robbing a robber's goods?" asked Shikamaru. "The world is so dishonest."

They all continued to run through the trees with their destination being a full mile.

**

* * *

**

Ino was first to wake up in an unfamiliar room. She looked around and saw her friends all tied up on tacky wooden chairs just like before, except the shack they were in was more like a house. People were living in this one regularly unlike the other one.

One after the other each girl woke up with a small head injury.

"Where are we?" asked Tenten.

"No idea." Said Ino.

"Actually you're here in our shack." Came a deep male voice.

The girls all looked up to see two lean men who were wearing black outfits and had unshaven faces.

"Does _everyone_ and their mom have a shack around here?" asked Hinata.

"When we get out of here we should get one too." Suggested Tenten.

"Yeah!" Sakura agreed. "But nothing tawdry like this. It should at _least_ be livable."

"Hey! This place is perfectly fine!" the smaller of the two yelled.

"Well it is a step up from the last one we were in." said Ino.

"Mhmm." They all agreed.

"All of you shut up!" demanded the tall guy. "You're our prisoners now so you'll cooperate with us!"

"We didn't with the last four…what makes you guys so special?" asked Tenten.

The smaller one then ran up and punched Tenten in the stomach causing her to cough up some blood.

"Tenten!" Each girl yelled.

"Tenten?" asked the bigger one. "The Daughter of King Tenma."

"What of it?!" yelled Ino.

He smiled wickedly at Tenten as he cracked his knuckles. "This one won't be going back home. I have a score to settle with Tenma…and looks like I can even it right here." He went into his pocket and pulled out some brass knuckles.

"Oooooh, the shiny ones!" commented the smaller guy. "They're much cleaner then the last time you used them." He laughed.

"Tenten!" Ino yelled. She was limp and didn't move. They weren't sure if she was out cold or just in so much pain. "Sakura! We have to!"

"…Alright! And now that I think about it the last place we were at was MUCH better then this." she yelled.

_**!!!SMASH!!!**_

The side window shattered in with Neji and Shikamaru coming through it. Naruto and Sasuke kicked down the door and barged in.

"If you liked it so much we'll take you back right away!" Neji smirked as he stared down his two opponents.

* * *

**A lot of spelling errors? good i don't wanna hear about it. I hope you were satisifed with this cause it's all i could get done before i went to sleep. Thanks for reading!**


	4. Naked or Clothed You STILL Have To Go

_He continued to wander the halls in a now stealthier way since he was accidentally seen by a servant. He still couldn't believe that he forgot where the room of Princess Hinata was, and as he unrelentingly pursued his target he notice a light in a room._

'_**That could be her room. If I go out this window I could check it.' **_

_Naruto went to an already unlocked window and walked against the stone of the castle wall. Once he went to the terrace that was outside of the room he noticed Sasuke already hiding down on the ground._

"_Sasuke?"_

"_Naruto? Why are you still here?" he asked wondering if something went wrong with the plan._

"_Well…I sort of forgot where my princess is." He said as he showed off his smriky grin in embarrassment._

"_Uggh, Naruto." Sasuke growled in annoyance. "Here you take mine and I'll go find yours for you." he stood up and was going to go back around Naruto when Naruto thrusted his arm out to stop him._

"_Why are you helping me? What's wrong with your princess?"_

"_Nothing..she just…won't go to sleep and I've been waiting out here for a while."_

"_A little princess too hard for you?" Naruto grinned. _

"_Look I'm being nice here. I remember where your princess is and you don't so why don't we just switch."_

"_Fine alright Sasuke." Naruto said as he hid closer to the door of the terrace. He went into his pocket and pulled out a little device that would help him unlock the door. He successfully heard it unlock and smiled at his work. "I haven't found a door that I can't break into yet!" he said proudly._

_Sasuke then went back around the wall murmuring the word, "Showoff."_

_Sasuke had later found Hinata lying in her bed. He didn't know if she was asleep or not but she wasn't reading a book like the other one was so he quickly went in and used what Shikamaru gave them to knock them out. Like a charm it had worked. Her body fell limp so he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. Getting her out of the castle would be the easy part, and once he got outside he saw Naruto already running ahead of him with the pink haired princess Sakura. _

"_He's ahead of me? This sure isn't making me look good." Sasuke told himself as he sped up to get near Naruto. "Naruto!" he called out._

_Naruto continued to run but he turned his head back to look at Sasuke. He noticed he had the other princess so he slowed down a little for Sasuke to catch up with him._

"_Naruto be CAREFULL with her!" he yelled as he noticed Sakura falling out of Naruto's grasp._

"_Oh whoops!" he said fixing his hold on her. "Sorry about that!" he laughed._

"_Hold her better! She's important to me!" he yelled at Naruto as they started to run up through trees._

_Naruto gave Sasuke a confused look._

"_What?!" asked Sasuke._

"_You just said she was important to you." he told him._

_Sasuke began to think. __**'I did just say that. Did I mean to say she was important to us? Then why did I get worried when he almost dropped her? It was like something inside me made me worry about her safety. Damn, WHY did I just worry about her?'**_

"_Sasuke?" Naruto asked wondering why he was staring down at the ground. _

"_I meant us. She's important…to us!"_

"_Oh! Well if you don't like the way I'm holding her do you just want to trade?"_

"_It doesn't matter. Drop her for all I care." He said getting angry with himself, and with a bunch of momentum he charged and got in front of Naruto._

_Naruto watched Sasuke pass him but when he saw Hinata it was as if everything had gone into slow motion. His eyes widened at the sight of her passing him by, and he remembered how they met in the dark hall just earlier. He thought she was a servant; he even thought of sneaking back to see her again. _

'_**She was Princess Hinata all that time. I could have taken her then and there but…'**_

_He watched Sasuke run ahead with Hinata. His heart almost stopped when he saw Sasuke jump up and almost let go of her. He, just like Sasuke, almost yelled to be careful with her, but not so much because of their encounter earlier. For a different reason, and he didn't even know what that reason was. _

'_**I still don't believe it. That girl I met in the hallway was...and she..she's. But how? She was so polite. She even bowed to me when she thanked me for helping her. Princesses don't bow to ANYONE lower then them. It's a fact! How can someone who was raised by a "supposed" evil king be like that?' **__he thought to himself still wondering about how the so called Tyrant kings were so pleasant. He stared off at Sasuke and Hinata. Her hair would go up every time Sasuke jumped revealing her sleeping face. He stared at her sadly. __**'Why did you have to be Princess Hinata?'**_

**

* * *

**

The two men began to shake as they looked at the four who had just crashed through their lovely home, give or take the lovely part. The man with the iron knuckles stared at Neji with fear until he realized something. He then threw his head back in laughter. The shorter man looked confused at first but then he too began to laugh; something he was unverbally commanded to do. When the leader laughed he would laugh.

"Look at your selves!" laughed the leader.

The girls all looked at the guys. They didn't have anything on their faces, so what on earth could he be laughing about?

"You're all just kids!" he yelled.

"OOOooh." Went Ino and Sakura.

"Don't underestimate your opponent." Smirked Neji as he pulled out a bunch of kunai and shuriken. The others did the same as he did causing the two men to cower in fear.

"Look, we're going to tell you once." Said Sasuke as he walked closer to the two men throwing a kunai up and down as if it was a toy. "Let us take what you took from us and we won't even touch you."

"How can we be sure you're telling the truth?" asked the smaller man.

"Hn. You have my word." Sasuke told them.

"And what is your word?" asked the leader. "You're nothing more then a thief yourself. You know as well as I do that you won't keep your word!"

"Hmp. I'm no thief. I don't steal as careless as you two do. Don't you _dare_ make me sound as lowly as _you_." he hissed.

"Hey! One of them is hurt." Said Naruto.

"Who touched her?" growled Neji as he noticed the blood coming out of her mouth.

"The short guy did!" yelled Sakura. Neji automatically stared daggers at him and hardened his grip on his weapons.

"So I guess the leader was going to finish the job with those iron knuckles." Commented Shikamaru as he pointed out the leader's weapon.

"NO NO!! Oh _these_ things?! NO NO! I was just showing them off to these lovely ladies." He said laughing nervously.

Neji closed his eyes as if he had a headache. Sasuke then walked over to the girls as he, Naruto, and Shikamaru put their weapons away.

"Looks like we'll be on our way." He told them as he untied the girls. He grabbed Hinata and threw her over his shoulder. In a flash he was gone.

Naruto and Shikamaru each did as Sasuke had, except Naruto grabbed both Ino and Sakura as Shikamaru carried Tenten bridal style. In a flash they were gone leaving a pissed off Neji in a room with two thieves.

He slowly cracked his knuckles, eyes still remaining shut.

"H..HEY! Wait!" cried the shorter man. "You..you gave us your word! We Wouldn't get hurt!

"Yeah!" agreed the leader shakily. "We got your word."

"No." said Neji coolly. "You got his word." His eyes then cracked wide open with all the veins near his eyes popping out. "Not mine!"

"Wait no…PLEASE!" They pleaded. "We did nothing to you! Why do you care so much about them?!"

It struck Neji hard. He had no idea why he was reacting this way.

"You gave me damaged goods!" he growled "So I'm going to damage you!"

The two men began screaming. They could be heard from where the group was running, and as the screaming slowly died so did they.

"He'll be here any second." Said Shikamaru as he laid Tenten down.

The girls all broke free from the Naruto and Sasuke and ran over to Tenten.

"Tenten!" yelled Sakura. "You okay?"

She moaned a little. Ino held her hand and Hinata put her head on her lap. Sakura put some pressure on the spot where she saw Tenten get hit.

"AAH!" Tenten yelled.

"That's going to be a bruise for sure. If it's already forming we can prevent it right away! Ino will you help me gather some herbs?"

Before she could even nod yes Sasuke interrupted.

"Hey. You're our prisoners. What makes you think we'll let you leave, you might escape."

"Look!" yelled Sakura with authority as she stood up to shake her finger at Sasuke. "Our friend is hurt. We're not just going to run away knowing you could probably capture us right up again. So since you're not even going to kill us will you go let us look for some things to help her?!"

"What do princesses know about medicine?" asked Sasuke as he got in her face. "Nothing! So I know this is all a lie to get away and find help!"

"I know plenty about it!" she huffed causing him to step back the slightest bit. "I read books on it all the time and was being trained in it. And as your yelling at me I could be gathering things to help her!"

He furrowed his eyebrows trying to intimidate her a little. It wasn't working and she held her ground as she made a more stern face.

"…Fine." Sasuke said as he gave in. "Go ahead and find what you need, but just so you don't cause us any trouble Shikamaru will go with you and Princess Ino."

"Thank you." she huffed.

"Hn." Sasuke said in defeated way.

Sakura walked back over To Tenten. "I'll have to see how bad it is so I know what we'll need. I need one of your weapons!" she yelled out to the three guys.

"Fine." Shikamaru sighed as he flung a kunai at the ground. Sakura took it and sliced the middle of Tenten's night gown.

"Ooooooh." The girls all cringed as they saw the huge bruise with the slightness of blood. When Shikamaru took a step closer to see how bad it was Ino shot up and blocked Tenten from view.

"Don't look at her!" she yelled. "She's not decent! All of you turn around!"

"Do you really think we're going to listen to you?" asked Naruto.

"Come on..just do it." Shikamaru whined as he walked a few steps away. Sasuke growled under his breath and turned also, and since they were all doing it Naruto did too, but he crossed his arms.

"Okay Ino you ready?" asked Sakura.

"Right. These flowers are basic, but potent. We should be able to find them around this area."

"Can we turn around?" asked Shikamaru.

Ino and Sakura walked up to him. "She's covered a little." Said Ino. "So let's go already!"

"We'll be back Tenten, just wait a while!" smiled Sakura.

All three of them went deeper into the woods in search of the flowers that would help Tenten out while Hinata stayed with Tenten. Sasuke leaned against a tree and Naruto crouched down on the ground as he played with some rocks hitting them back and forth.

Hinata kept stealing glances of Naruto when he would face another direction. She knew it was him she saw last night, but she still couldn't believe her eyes. In a small way, she felt betrayed. That was the strange emotion that kept going trough her. But, _why_ was she feeling so betrayed? Nothing computed in her mind. Like, why was he this extremely nice guy one second and then someone who was really he evil trying to capture her and her friends?

She stared down at Tenten. All of the pain she was going through could have been averted if they had used their powers to get away from their captors the first time.

'_Father…I wish I could be like you and make smart decisions.' _She thought to herself.

Naruto kept sneaking glances at Hinata. She looked really upset about her friend, and felt _sort_ _of_ bad for her.

"Hey!" came the voice of Neji who had just jumped down from a tree. "Where did the other two princesses go? Did they try to escape?"

"They went to find herbs for Princess Tenten. We let them go so they would shut up." Sasuke told him.

"Was that really wise?" asked Neji. Sasuke grew angry that he questioned his judgment.

"Do you want to go help them?" he growled. Neji didn't respond and looked down at Tenten.

Looking at her caused his heart to beat with anger. He didn't know why though. She stirred some and slowly opened her eyes to look at Hinata. When he noticed this he also looked at Hinata. There was the princess who had his eyes. They looked exactly like his, and it made him wonder. He wondered where he had come from and she might have the answer for him.

"Hinata?" Tenten asked.

"How are you feeling?"

"You're the one muh dear. _You_ are the One." Tenten whispered. Neji, however, heard her say it along with Hinata.

"I'm what? Tenten you better not say anything. Just wait for Ino and.."

"Take them all and head to the highest point. Let wind guide you and let you all Four open the door."

"Ten..ten?" Hinata whispered.

"Go open the door now." Tenten smiled.

Before another word could be said Tenten shut her eyes and fell into sleep, but instead of looking peaceful like she had just done when she spoke to Hinata she looked to be in pain.

"That hit must have had you seeing things." Hinata smirked. But on the inside she was uneasy. For a moment it felt like Tenten wasn't even with her, and she was talking to someone else.

"What was that she said?" asked Neji hoping to get her to look up at him.

"She's delusional." Hinata said still staring down at her friend.

'_I need her to look at me.' _He thought. "What Princess are you?"

"Princess Hinata." She said still refusing to look up at him. A light breeze came by and rustled the leaves on the trees. Neji wondered if he should continue to interrogate her but also knew that he could simply grab her by the throat to look at her eyes as close as he wanted to. He almost did just that when her voice stopped him. "Your name." Hinata spoke. "It's…it's Neji? Is that what it is?" she asked quietly almost uncertain if asking him was a good idea.

"Yes. My name is Neji. What of it?" he asked still looking at her hoping she would look up at him. She looked out at the woods instead of at him or Tenten.

"I had…a cousin named Neji."

'_HUH!'_ Neji, and even Naruto and Sasuke, became more curious of what she was saying. It hit Neji like a ton of bricks when she mentioned that she once had a cousin named Neji.

"So…? What happened to him?" Neji asked inwardly getting anxious and outwardly looking cool.

"People…like what you're doing to me and my friends now, took him. His father tried to save him but got killed." Hinata looked back down at Tenten. "I only remember him a little bit but, we were always near each other that I was once convinced he was my brother. It's just…you have the same name. And hearing it just made me remember some things."

"Like what?" Neji asked curious.

Hinata normally wouldn't freely talk about her dead cousin but just thinking back about him, and being in the situation she was in made her speak wholeheartedly of him. "When we would run around in our castle. We lived together since our fathers were brothers, twins actually. We'd go up and down stairs playing tag and hide n' seek." Hinata faintly smiled, which was noticed by all three guys. "Whenever I was it I would always chase him up the servants' stairs. I don't remember how we got there but we always made it to that side of the building. He was faster then me so he was always ahead, and just when he would turn the corner in the green hall he would vanish."

"He'd vanish?"

"Just disappear. After I couldn't find him I would sit and wait for him to find me sitting on the main stairs. He'd come laughing and I would start laughing. I still don't know how he would do it."

'_The green hall?' _Neji closed his lavender eyes. He imagined the green hall, but it wasn't hard for him to imagine since it seemed so familiar to him. He then could see himself running through it. _'Neji!' _giggled a voice in his mind. In his mind he was no longer in the green hall but somewhere dark. He was looking through some sort of vent and noticed a shadow outside of it approaching. Outside the vent was the green hall again. _'Neeeji!' _giggled the voice.

"Hinata!" called out Ino snapping Neji out of his thoughts. "We made Tenten a small remade. Is she okay?"

Everyone looked over to the approaching three. Sakura and Ino were smiling considering the fact that their friend was hurt and they were being captured. Shikamaru came over with a blush peeking out from under his mask which only went unnoticed to the laying Tenten.

Hinata smiled and nodded to Ino. "Yes, she was just talking…but I don't think she realized it."

"No problem." Sakura said waving that matter away with her hand. "I just can't believe the punch was that effective." She knelt down beside Tenten as Ino began to apply some of what they had concocted onto some make at home bandages. "Okay so if we rub this on her the bruise will be fine, Hinata just sit her up."

Hinata complied and sat Tenten up. All of the guys were watching intently with Sasuke wishing they had just let her travel the rest of the way in pain. A lot quicker that way. As soon as she sat up her eyes popped open.

"Tenten!" Ino said delighted.

"Your eyes opened up like a baby-doll's." Hinata commented.

"Opened up? What are…huh! How'd we get outside? We were just tied down weren't we?" she asked as she began to look around. Her head then shot down to where Sakura was applying bandages and that's when it all hit her. "Oh right. The short pudgy guy hit me, it was a pretty lousy hit though."

"Quit acting like it was no bid deal." Neji scoffed. "You were knocked out and it hurt. No reason you should be acting all macho about it."

"Hey! It wasn't him who knocked me out…you weren't even there! How would you know?!" she yelled defensively.

"There you go, done." Sakura told her as she patted her stomach.

"But Tenten…he did knock you out." Said Ino. "We saw you, you spat up blood and everything."

"I remember that much." She said with her voice growing spooky. "But then I felt really weird…like something was holding me down and making me go to sleep."

"That could be normal." Commented Sakura.

Tenten shook it off and jumped to her feet staring daggers at Neji. "So!" she spat. "You gonna carry us back to the shack or what?!"

"Gonna? What kind of princesses are you?" asked Sasuke. "You talk nothing like a princess should."

"Says the expert on princesses." Hinata threw back at him.

"We don't have to be polite near any of _you_." Sakura said crossing her arms.

"We won't be going back to the hideout." interjected Shikamaru before all of them started to fight. "We're heading to the castle right now."

"_Greeeat_. Now we're traveling in our pajamas once again." Said an annoyed Tenten.

"Didn't you guys bring us a disguise?" asked Sakura. "I mean let's be honest here boys, you all carrying girls in their nightwear won't look good when you cut through the Kozakana village." She smirked.

The guys' eyes all grew wide making the girls smirk.

"How did you know we were going through that way?" demanded Naruto.

"Pft, it was obvious." Shrugged Tenten. "You might want to go ahead and grab up something decent for us to wear so they're aren't any suspicions."

"Especially since that village is loyal to us and **not** Prince Sasuke of Konohagakure." Said Hinata as she also smirked adding a little bit of evilness.

Each guy dropped their jaw.

"When did you realize who I was?" asked an angry Sasuke.

"Seriously? We kept hearing them call you that, and _how_ many Sasuke's do you know who aren't Princes? Asked Ino.

Sasuke then looked steamed, and he glared over at his friends.

"Oh shit." Mumbled Shikamaru.

"Okay guys, now go fetch us some proper clothes to wear so you may sneak us through the village." Sakura told them.

With out anyone saying anything the guys all leapt high into the trees going as far up as they could.

"Where did they go?" asked Ino looking up.

"Oh they listened to me?" wondered Sakura out loud.

"Should we escape?" wondered Hinata.

"Nah, there's no point. They'll take us again." Mentioned Tenten as she sat back on the ground looking up. "Oh I can see them." She pointed up and the girls all sat down near her to look.

"Sooooo….they're talking?" asked Ino. "Wonder about what."

"They underestimated us." Tenten put simply. "Now they're reconfiguring they're data."

"True." Sakura agreed. "I hope it involves getting us some clothes."

"I really am starting to feel naked." Said Hinata.

"Says the girl who is wearing a robe." Commented Tenten.

At the top of the tree the guys had been discussing how they would go about the village they were just about to enter.

"Poor." Said Naruto.

"Only known resources are small fish." Neji said.

"What kind of information is that?" scoffed Naruto.

"It just means that they'll probably do anything for money." Sasuke said as he focused at the branch he was standing on.

"So if we find an Inn we can pay them to not disturb." Shikamaru told them.

"Not just a room either but mostly an entire wing!" Sasuke continued to say as he made his plan.

"But if they scream for help we're screwed!" said Naruto.

"We'll make a deal with them." Said Neji. "We'll tell them if they want clothes they'll need to compromise."

"We shouldn't be compromising with them at all!" exclaimed Sasuke. "They should be doing whatever we say…I didn't think they would be so opinionated."

"And they're a little too outspoken." Naruto added.

"I'm sure they'll work with us." Decided Shikamaru. "It even sounds like they _want_ to be captured."

"Not to mention they keep giving us pointers." Said Neji.

Sasuke sighed and looked up at the tops of the trees. He could see some of the blue sky but coming towards them were rain clouds. It would slow down anyone who was trying to find them, but also it would slow _them_ down too.

All of a sudden there was an earthquake causing the guys to fall down out of the trees.

**

* * *

**

"They've been up there for_ever_!" complained Ino as she laid down on her back.

"It's only been five minutes." Said Hinata.

"But what could they be talking about?" Ino whined.

"Gosh Ino why don't you just call them back down?" asked Sakura.

"How about…Tenten can you shake the ground so they fall?"

"Yeeeah!" Sakura and Hinata agreed as their eyes sparkled with enjoyment.

"_Noooo_," she said in a mocking voice. "I'm not supp_oooosed_ to exercise my powers."

Sakura and Hinata both dropped their jaws.

"You've got to be kidding." Ino said staring at her in non-belief.

"I'm serious." she humpfed.

"Fine." Sakura sighed as she and the other two stared her down.

Tenten closed her eyes and looked away from them unflinching. There was no way she was about to use her powers after she was scolded not to do so. Nope she would **not** do it. Not her. No way, she was like a rock she was. Exactly like her element.

'_I'm a rock.' _She told herself. _'I am just like my element, I can withstand anything!' _she thought some more giving herself some good motivation. Her curiosity got the best of her and she peeked to see if they were all still looking at her.

Yep…they were.

"Damnit!" she cursed as she placed her hands on the ground. She could feel her friends making huge smiling faces. _'I am just like my element. I cave in.' _she told herself as she shook the ground around them.

"And the boys came tumbling down!" Ino giggled as they watched all four guys fall out of the tree.

They wanted to watch them fall and land on their asses like the _asses_ they were, but to their dismay each of them swiftly grabbed the last tree branch and landed on their feet or they just landed on their feet without tree assistance.

"_shoot_." Ino mumbled to herself.

"Are we leaving yet?" complained Sakura. "We're tired of waiting."

"At this rate we'll be found and you'll all be captured." Added Tenten.

"Listen to us." Shikamaru commanded. "Two of us will run ahead and find you some suitable clothes to wear. The rest of you will be walking on your own to the village, ONLY if you keep quiet."

"PFT, no dice." Said Ino.

"Then no clothes." Said Neji. "You either do as he says or we'll make you go naked."

"Yeah right, you really think we believe you?" asked Tenten.

The only thing Neji did was point at his left cheek indicating that the last time Tenten had doubted him he had proven her wrong. The message was received clearly and Tenten looked over at her friends to see what they wanted to do.

'_We can take them down at any second,' _thought Sakura. _'If we cooperate with them we'll at least be in some decent clothes. (Mental sigh) Looks like we'll just do as they say.'_

"Alright." Said Sakura. "We'll keep quiet."

"Fine. I won't say even a word." Ino said crossing her arms.

"THANKyou." Shikamaru said as he threw his arms up in the air.

"Huh! Hm." Ino, just being offended, through up her nose in the opposite direction of Shikamaru.

"Shikamaru and Naruto you both run ahead and get what we need." Said Sasuke. He cautiously put his hand into his front right pocket and pulled out a small sack, one that you would use to carry coins in. "Here you'll need this." he said tossing it lazily to Shikamaru.

Shikamaru simply put his hand out to catch it nonchalantly put quicker then…well QUICK, Naruto jumped up and intercepted it.

"Alright!!" he shouted. "Sasuke's treat!" he cheered as he twirled with the bag in the air.

This caused Hinata to smirk at his childish antics.

"Thank you Naruto." Shikamaru said sarcastically as he bowed his head to Naruto. "Now we look like amateurs even _more_ to them. You sure are giving us a bad rep."

"Get out of here." Sasuke ordered.

And without any hesitation they were gone in almost an instant.

"All of you need to stand up." ordered Neji. "You'll all be walking on your own. So head in that direction."

"And what if we refuse to walk on our own?" asked Ino as they all stood up.

Neji simply took out a kunai and pointed it at Hinata.

"Then I'll slice her kneecaps out." He warned.

Each girl began to look quite grim at the sound of torture.

"You all did say you would cooperate with us. Don't think just because we sent for clothes means we'll give them to you." said Sasuke in a cool and authoritative voice.

"Ino he's right. Let's start moving." Said Sakura.

And with that the girls began to march in the direction Neji had pointed.

Each girl, even though they looked as if they were just taking another walk in the woods, was feeling uneasy inside. Even though they weren't _using_ their powers they still had the scars on their bodies. Hinata kept all her hair pulled around the side of her neck, and in fear that it would fall and reveal everything she held the ends of her hair making it look like she was just playing with it nervously.

Tenten, thanks to Sakura and Ino, had her mark covered in bandages. While the guys weren't looking Sakura had covered it up since she wasn't wearing any shoes or socks. However, if Tenten had stepped on a rock the wrong way her bandages would tear. This made her step gingerly on the ground.

Ino and Sakura kept their hands close to their sides with the symbol close to their bodies. They prayed that Shikamaru and Naruto would buy them gloves or something with **very** long sleeves.

Sasuke and Neji walked a couple of yards behind them not paying any attention to them since they knew they could catch them if they tried to run. Sasuke, out of boredom, began counting the trees he would walk by in his head. As he walked by them he would carelessly hit it with his fist, but when he wasn't counting trees he was watching Sakura lead the way. He convinced himself the only reason he would keep staring at her was because of her pink hair being eye appeal for him since it was the brightest thing in the forest.

Neji was having his own little problem. His forehead had been hurting ever since they had all fallen out of the tree. He kept tapping his forehead protector but it never hurt then, it only hurt for moment and then would stop. He thought about this and wondered why it could be hurting like it did. Not really hurting but annoying him.

'_Perhaps it is on too tight.' _He decided no longer going to thick of the little annoyance.

**

* * *

**

"What is this garbage!?!" yelled Ino as she shook a fist full of what was supposed to be a decent dress in front of Naruto.

"Your dress!" he yelled back as scratched the inside of his year since Ino had yelled so loud.

"This is unacceptable!" she yelled again.

"Well it's what you're going to wear." Said Sasuke. "Then put the robes on top when you're done. They're each different colors so don't fight over them.

The guys then walked away with their backs turned to give them some privacy.

"Pft…don't fight over them? What are we?" asked Tenten. "Savages?"

She said this just as Hinata was picking up the red robe to wear.

"Ummmmmm….Hinata…can I have that robe?" asked a tentative Sakura. "I'll give you this blue one?"

"You really want the red one so bad?" Hinata asked staring at it and then at Sakura.

"Well…._yeah_, I mean it's my color you know? Red…? Fire…? Get it?"

"If the girl wants to wear the red robe let her wear the red robe." Said Ino who had just put on the long dark blue dress. It had elastic at the ends of the sleeves with frillies coming off of it. Her shoes were simple brown leather shoes that the poor could actually afford, and to her dismay the dress's neck line actually went tightly around her neck. Also it had frillies on it. (AN: Ummm, like can you imagine how awful that looks?)

"They purposely bought these to piss me off!" Ino growled. She looked over to see all of them wearing the same shoes and similar dresses like hers. Tenten's was a nasty forest green, Hinata's was a beige color, and Sakura's was a dark ruby. Hinata didn't really care about giving Sakura the robe she had picked at random since it seemed to look better on her anyways. So Hinata wore the royal blue robe, Tenten wore the brown one, not by choice just because she was slow in the picking, and Ino wore a white robe that looked like it had been worn already.

"I look ridiculous." Commented Ino.

"I look like a tree." Said Tenten who was staring down at what she was wearing.

"Does it really matter what any of you look like?" asked Shikamaru who was walking over with the other three guys.

"Hey, we didn't say we were decent!" Sakura shouted.

"We figured you were done." Said Neji impassively.

"Alright, it's not so far ahead." Said Shikamaru getting down to business. "Actually…it's right down this hill."

The girls all stared at Shikamaru with their eyes as huge as plates. Rapidly they ran to the edge of the hill Shikamaru was talking about and noticed the whole entire village right in front of them. They stared at it in total and complete shock.

"What's _their_ deal?" asked Naruto as they all approached the gaping girls.

"We….we were close to the village?" asked Sakura not once lingering her eyes from the scene before her.

"Shouldn't you be happy that we wont be walking anymore?" asked Shikamaru.

"YOU IDIOTS!" Ino shouted causing an echo. "You could have let us gotten dressed down there instead of right in the woods like wild ANIMALS!" she fumed. (AN: with every right I might add)

Shikamaru took a step closer to Ino to get in her face. He gave her a serious yet mocking face and told her, "Animals don't wear clothes."

"The Inn is that reddish building." Naruto said jogging in front of the group. "We have rooms already set up for us to stay the night, and they won't be questioning us since it's just an old man and his wife who owns the whole place."

"Any other occupants?" Sasuke asked him.

"Another elderly couple who are on the opposite end of the Inn from us."

"Naruto…since when did you get so good at gathering data?" asked a bewildered Neji.

"Tssh, you shouldn't underestimate me." He said as he tried to laugh modestly.

"They checked in right before us and Naruto heard the owner tell where to go." Shikamaru put bluntly.

"You couldn't let me look good in front of princesses for once?" Naruto hissed.

"What's the point in trying to impress them?" Shikamaru shrugged as he looked ahead at the village.

"Can we just go already?" asked Tenten. "It's bad enough we had to get dressed in the woods but now we're just standing in it."

"I'm starting to get tired." Hinata told them all.

"Lead the way to the Inn Shikamaru." Sasuke told him.

"Alright, follow us." Shikamaru said as he and Naruto both began walking down the hill.

It wasn't hard to walk down since the ground was very dry, however, with the rain that was certainly to come it would be harder for anyone else to come down it. This pleased Sasuke knowing that it would be hard for them to be followed. He was also relieved that there weren't even signs of them being followed yet, but after all they were miles away from the palace. The odds of anybody being near them were impossible. Now the only thing that was on Sasuke's mind was getting the princesses to stay quiet in the Inn which he was pretty sure would be easy to do.

**

* * *

Okay with all my ability and free time I am going to create a picture of what the girls all look like right now..AND what they will look like in the next chapter. BUT if there are any talented people out there who just LOOVE drawing and wanna save me the embarrassment of doing it myself i would be enternally greatful and forever in their debt. Hope you liked this chappy!!**

LOVE MEME!


	5. You Make Me Big Business Yes?

You Make Me Big Business Yes?

_Sakura and Ino began their search in the woods for the certain flowers that would help Tenten out. Between Sakura's medic skills and Ino's skills and knowing every flower there search went quickly, and the remade was made flawlessly. As they were making it Shikamaru leaned against a tree lazily and impatiently waiting for them to be done._

"_Can't you make it when we get back?" he groaned. _

"_No." Sakura put simply in her strict voice. "It needs to be made the instant the flower is picked."_

"_Just watch Shikamaru." Ino said to him casually. "You might just learn something."_

_He yawned and looked the other way. "I think I'll pass, even though it does sound __**so**__ tempting." _

"_Hmp. You're so rude." Ino commented. "Didn't your mother teach you to be polite to girls?"_

"_Ino he's keeping us hostage. I'm sure whatever manners he once had are locked away deep down in some unknown cave in his cold little heart."_

"_Yeah that's right." He told them. "I have no emotions." With that he ended the conversation. He closed his eyes and went right back to his lazy composure. The trees rustled a little making a peaceful noise that made him nearly surrender to sleep when out of no where something hard hit him right on his forehead._

"_Ouch. HEY!" he yelled at Ino was smiling at him. "What was that for?!"_

"_I was just proving you wrong." She said innocently. _

"_By throwing a rock at me?" he asked rubbing the spot where it had hit with sharp force. _

"_Yeah. You just said you had no emotions. Well feeling pain is an emotion…_therefore_ I proved you wrong!" she said laughing since she was very proud of herself. _

"_Whatever." Shikamaru mumbled._

_Sakura and Ino stood up after they were done making everything they needed. As they walked back to the group Ino began to talk to Shikamaru again. _

"_So how did you get mixed up in all of this?" she asked him staring at him wondering. _

"_Mixed up in what?" he asked not quite sure what she was referring to. _

"_With Prince Sasuke and his plan on us. How'd you get involved?"_

"_I'm not going to explain that to __**you**__." he told her facing forward again. _

_Ino and Sakura looked at each other. Sakura shrugged and they both quickened their paces so they were now ahead of Shikamaru. _

"_Well I guess you won't answer my other question then." She said looking over her shoulder at him._

"_Nope." He told her hoping to disappoint her. _

"_And it was soooo good too." She whined._

_He grew a little curious, so he decided to ask her what it was so he could just turn that one down too._

"_Okay…so what is it?"_

"_Why do you all wear masks?" she asked as she looked up at him simply. _

"_Again…I'm not going to tell you." he smirked hoping to frustrate her again._

_Her face, however, showed a different emotion. One a little child would make when they really wanted to see something but weren't aloud to. "Aaaw but I bet you're really hot!"_

_This caused Shikamaru to stumble on his feet and he nearly fell over. Ino and Sakura then began to head over to Tenten who was now clearly in view with smiles of satisfaction on their faces, but Shikamaru slowed down his pace hoping that the blush he could feel forming on his face, even past his mask, would recede and go back into hiding._

'_Troublesome girls.' He thought to himself._

* * *

_****_

The Inn was fairly nice considering it was located in a poor village. It was, besides the fish export, the only business that made decent money, and that was saying something. It stood one story but there was a tower adjoining the Inn causing it to look even more like a barn do to its red color.

On upon entering the building, with the four girls leading the way, they noticed the two Inn keepers which Naruto had mentioned earlier. They were old and probably couldn't put up much of a fight…or any for that matter. Both of them stood behind a desk made out of ply wood, the centerpiece of the small lobby, with huge smiles on their faces. The woman was the first to greet the new young guests.

"OOOOOOH, look what we have HERE!" she squealed as she ran over to the four stunning girls. "You four are too beautiful! You bring big business in here for us!"

Their happy moment began to feel a little awkward. The girls each sweat dropped and laughed nervously at the old woman.

"My name is Tao, and that is my husband Chung! You four girls should be displayed outside. Bring in big business for me and Chung!" **(AN: Tao, long life. Chung, The wise one)**

"Par chance," Tenten began. "Do you originate from the Kingdom in the West?"

"Oooooooooooooooooh yes. It's big there. We used to live under King Tenma, but now we own our own business down here!" she said all too happily. "Do you come from there too?!" she asked eager for the answer.

"Yes actually, I do come from there." Tenten said laughing to herself.

"Have you ever seen the princess?" asked a star struck Sakura.

"Oh noooooo." She said shaking her finger. "No one sees the beautiful Tenyten."

The girls all tried to hold in their giggles as they looked at an embarrassed Tenten.

"I think you mean Tenten." Tenten corrected.

"That is what I said, Tenyten." Tao said looking at them confused. "For being so beautiful you all sure have bad hearing."

"Uuuuh,_right_." Ino said giving her a sideways glance.

"You all come from the West?" asked Tao.

"Actually I come from the Kingdom in the East." Said a proud Sakura.

"I'm from the South." Hinata added.

Ino then proudly pointed at herself with her thumb. "And I'm from the glamorous North."

"Ooooooh!" Tao said dazzled. "They all sure are far away from here."

"Four beauties from the four Great Kingdoms." Interjected Chung from behind his desk. He then rubbed his chin that had some stubble on it as he appeared to be in some thought. "What a rare occurrence."

"Oh rare indeed." Sakura added.

"Why you all down here?" asked Tao.

"Just passing through." Hinata shrugged. "We just thought we'd come through and see the land." She lied.

"Well with such wonderful escorts I would be too!" Tao said referring to the guys behind them.

"Well they're doing a lousy job." Ino added glumly.

"But they so handsome! We should put them on display too!"

All the girls turned to look at their captors when they realized something different about them. They were no longer wearing their masks that were hiding their identities. Their jaws nearly dropped at the sight of their drop dead captors. Thankfully they all seemed to hold their composure steadily.

Sasuke then approached Tao with one of the kindest and most sincere faces anyone would ever have seen.

"Miss we really need to be getting to our rooms now. If you would kindly show us to them these lovely ladies could get their well _needed_ beauty sleep. Not everyone can be as lucky as you to be born so naturally lovely."

"Oh you stop it!" Tao laughed as she swatted her hand around. Each girl glared offended at Sasuke.

'_Who knew he could be such a good actor.' _Each of them thought.

"I like this one!" Tao exclaimed. "Which one does he belong to?" she asked the girls.

They each looked at each other and their eyes decided that Tenten belonged to him.

"Oh gosh…um…I do." Tenten said with fake effort in trying to be flattering.

"You keep him close...he's HOT!" she said slapping Sasuke on the ass.

Sasuke flinched to the gesture and the girls all laughed.

"I shall show you all to your rooms now." Chung said as he walked to them.

"Thank you." Sasuke smiled.

Chung left his wife at the desk and they all followed him obediently as he took them to the end of a short hall. He pointed at two doors labeled six and four.

"This room is for the men." He said pointing at door six. He then pointed at door number four that was right across from it, but the doors were very close together. Each guy could stand in the middle of the hall and spread their arms out touching each wall. "This room will be for the young ladies'."

"Thank you Grandpa!" Naruto said happily as he grabbed a key out of Chung's hand to open his door. Along doing so he knocked some of them around.

"Hey, look out Naruto!" complained Sasuke. "It's a small hall."

"Thank you so kindly." Ino said as she bowed to Chung and accepted the key.

"Very well mannered." Chung said as he patted her on the head. "Your parents must be extremely proud of you. I'm sure you are promised to a fine gentleman."

Ino blushed knowing that she was just complimented very well.

"If any of you need help you just yell 'HEY TAO I NEED BLAH!' Okay?! You just yell!" yelled Tao from the front desk.

"Please excuse my wife." Chung said. "She is not used to the accent of this village yet."

"Thank you." Sasuke said as Chung walked away back to the desk.

"All of you get rest." Informed Neji as he stepped into their room.

"Whatever." Ino spat as she converted back to her sour attitude instead of her sweet one.

"Two faced." Shikamaru said as he entered the room and shutting the door behind him.

The girls went into their room too and locked the door behind them.

"That is JUST so cocky of them." Tenten complained as she collapsed on a bed. "They give us our own room and even allow us to lock it cause they know if we escape they can get us."

"That just pisses me off." Ino said as she sat crossed arm on the bed Tenten was on.

"That's why we should escape now." Sakura whispered. "Tonight we could easily escape using our powers."

"Oh…_now_ you want to use them." Tenten said in both a hushed and annoyed voice.

"It could be easy though." She said trying to urge them. "I admit, they have skills of a ninja, but not even regular ninjas can fight against the forces of nature."

"I'll do it." Ino said raising her hand. "Only if we go with a plan."

"No sweat." Said Sakura. "I think I have an idea of what we should do if they pursue us."

"Does it involve these dresses?" asked Hinata. "Because I'm having the hardest time maneuvering them."

"She's right." Agreed Tenten. "I can barely move in them."

"Well what if we just use these capes then?" asked Sakura holding hers in her hands.

"NO!" all of them yelled at once causing Sakura to shake in fear.

"It was just a suggestion."

"You want us to gallivant around practically naked!" exclaimed Ino.

"Can you create an idea then?" demanded Sakura.

Ino stood up to meet Sakura's eyes. "One better then YOURS!" she hollered.

"SSSSH!" Tenten hushed. "Quiet down you two." She whispered.

Ino sat back down with a 'hmp'. She and Sakura both turned to face the other direction from the other.

"Wait!" Hinata said thinking of an idea. "What Sakura said."

"We are not going in our robes." Ino said shocked that Hinata would bring that idea up again.

Hinata rolled her eyes. "No not that." She then motioned with her hands for them to come closer to her so she could whisper her plan to them all.

"That is so GENIUS!" Ino squealed with delight.

"I can't wait to rip this thing to shreds." Tenten said darkly.

"Well not **ugly** _hideous_ rags." Sakura told her. "We need to make them decent looking BUT they need to be battle ready."

"Battle ready?" laughed Ino.

"In case we have to fend for our selves against creepers." Sakura shivered.

"Ino is this job going to be left up to you then?" Hinata asked.

"Oh I can make them look amazing!" she said knowingly. "Just give me some instruments and I will show you a _masterpiece_!"

* * *

****

The guys were all exhausted from the past night that it wasn't hard for them to fall instantly asleep. The girls were being rather obedient and they felt they didn't have to keep a constant watch on them.

Sasuke had the honor of resting on one of the beds that was closest to the door. Shikamaru made himself comfortable in a corner right by the small window that had its shade drawn. Neji leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. He was resting but at the same time is forehead continued to bother him. His facial expression was one of annoyance. Naruto was sprawled on the other bed staring straight up at the ceiling blankly. In his mind he was making decisions about certain things.

He knew his mission, capture the princesses rapidly and inconspicuously, but he never imagined that something like _this_ could happen to him. He thought of the Princess from the South, and how with just a glance she could tug at his heart. For a second he smirked at the thought of having a heart. He never thought he had room in there for anyone else besides himself and his three close friends. The mere thought of something else finding its way into there sounded outrageous, however, this girl _did_.

Naruto shook his head quick as to clear out his thoughts. Everything that was jumbled up in there seemed to be sticking together frustrating him immensely. After running his hands through his hair he seemed to be together once again. The image of her face was the only clear thing in his mind; the _one_ thing that wasn't getting jumbled together with everything else. It was weird to him that he was having these emotions, but now he had to make his final decision.

'_Sasuke is my best friend. I would loose my life for him, so…I'll go on with this mission.' _He decided to himself. After letting out a heavy breath it was decided, but the image of the princess seemed to be burned into his mind.

"Damn it." He mumbled to himself.

"AAUUUR!" yelled a distressed voice.

Each guy jumped up alert to see who had made the noise. Neji was r on his knees squeezing his head in agony.

"Neji what's wrong!" Sasuke asked alert.

Neji groaned slightly. The pain he was feeling seemed to be going away faster then it had come.

"My forehead." He told them. "It's burning!"

Shikamaru went down to the ground and unfastened Neji's head protector. They all stared at his forehead, shock on each of their faces.

"What is it?" asked Neji.

"It'sa…a…" Shikamaru couldn't get the words out of his mouth since he wasn't sure which way to describe it.

"Looks sort of like a mark." Sasuke finally said no longer shocked but instead trying to analyze what he was seeing. He knelt down next to Shikamaru to get a better look. "But it's a symbol."

"Hey! I know that symbol!" Naruto said astonished at himself like the others were. "That's that zodiac symbol."

"Which one?" asked Sasuke as he looked up at Naruto. "There's about twelve."

Naruto thought about it for a moment when it came to him. "Capricorn!" he told them all.

"Capricorn?" asked Shikamaru. "Yeah, I think he's right."

Neji then lightly traced the mark on his forehead. It didn't hurt to touch; it wasn't even warm to his surprise.

"What does this mean?" he asked them.

Sasuke sighed. He knew exactly what it meant. "It finally confirms what we always wondered." He told him. Each of them knew what he was talking about. "Only four people get these kinds of marks."

"So Neji isn't some freak like we always thought he was?" Naruto asked.

"No Naruto." Said Shikamaru. "His powerful eyes weren't given to him by magic like we always thought."

"So you mean…I'm a…?" Neji trailed off. They all knew the answer.

"And we were all starting to think that the Elemental Four were gone." Shikamaru said as he sighed. "Looks like they're back."

"And Neji's protecting one of them." Said Naruto.

Neji stared down at his hands in fear. "Me?" he whispered. He then began to shake a little, half of the reason was in anger and the other half was because of fear.  
"Calm down Neji." Sasuke told him. "Look…I think I know how you feel.." he began to tell him.

"I don't think you could possibly know how I feel." Neji hissed at him as anger took over. "The only reason I was born was to protect someone. My whole existence is dedicated to some ONE person. How can you possibly understand how I'm feeling?!"

"Because." Sasuke began to say as he gripped his hands into fists. "I think I might be one too."

"What!??" asked a dizzy Shikamaru. "You have a mark too?"

"No not a mark." Sasuke told them. "But…my ability."

"But Sasuke," Naruto said still stunned by all this news. "I thought you said you were bewitched. You told me it was a curse."

He shook his head and stood up only to stare down at the ground so he could avoid all of their eyes. "No…I was born with it."

"Why would you lie about that to us?" asked a troubled Naruto.

"I just…didn't want anyone to know. Mt father…" Sasuke then turned his back to them all and stared across at the blank wall. Neji stood up waiting patiently for Sasuke to explain himself. Shikamaru stood up as well.

"Did he know about it?" asked Shikamaru.

Sasuke nodded. "He was the one who told me not to tell anyone about it; he's also the one who helped me perfect it."

"You mean he trained you?" asked an unbelievable Shikamaru. "How'd he manage that without anyone seeing?"

He turned and faced them all."We trained in the forest…today known as Ash Forest?"

"You mean you're responsible for all those scorch marks?" asked Naruto. Sasuke nodded yes.

"But Sasuke," began Shikamaru. "You can shoot fire out of your mouth!" His voice then became hushed after receiving a glare from Sasuke for being too loud. "What if you're the Elementalist of Fire?"

"Yeah!" Naruto said agreeing with Shikamaru. "You could actually be an Elementalist."

"No, I'm not. That much was made clear by my father. When I first discovered I had this power I thought the same thing as you, but my father explained to me that the Elementalist of fire can only manipulate fire. Not create it."

"AAUGH!" Naruto growled in frustration. "I want to be cool like you guys!"

"Where in my story did you hear me say that I was thrilled to pieces?" asked Sasuke monotone.

"I know I for one am not happy about all of this." said Neji as he glared at Naruto.

"I guess I do feel sort of sorry for you guys." Said Shikamaru who had his neck cranked back so he could stare up at the ceiling. "Like Neji said, you now have to dedicate your lives to someone else."

"Not unless we keep our mouths shut." Sasuke told them.

"Well I wasn't about to go off and tell everyone about it." Said Neji.

"According to what I hear the Elemental Four come looking for _you_." said Naruto as he addressed Sasuke and Neji. "And since you both are together you'll make their search go much quicker."

"They won't ever find us." Sasuke told him in a tone that sounded like he was promising this. Neji nodded in agreement.

Naruto let out a huge sigh and ran his hands through all of his hair again. "You both just made my life even more complicated."

"You're life is getting complicated?" Asked Neji in disbelief. "What about ours?"

"Okay, maybe we should just drop this topic." Said Shikamaru. "We'll talk more about it when we return to the castle. In the mean time let's just focus on the current objective at hand. Once that's over with we'll follow whatever further instructions our King has for us."

"Don't call him a _king_ when he's not here." Sasuke hissed at Shikamaru. "Between us he is just Itachi."

"My apologies your _Highness_." Shikamaru said mockingly.

Whenever Sasuke acted mightier than everyone or when he would command one of them to do something, his friends would call him by his Royal name. They did this in a way to remind Sasuke that even though they were all friends he was still a prince and he would unfairly spring out his authority to get his way.

"I'm sorry." Sasuke apologized realizing he had snapped too quickly. "We'll just do as you say and drop the matter."

"So now can we go to sleep?" asked Shikamaru.

"We need to rest more." Commented Neji as Naruto went back to his bed.

"Wake me up when you're all ready to leave." He told them as he closed his eyes.

They all glared at him, but their glares halted when they heard a door outside shut quietly.

Sasuke quickly opened the door to take a look since they all figured it was the girls trying to escape but instead he startled the old woman Tao. She looked near to having a heart attack.

"Oh! You scared me!" she said clutching at her heart. "Is there anything I can get for you?"

"Were you just in there?" he asked pointing to the room the girls were in. She hesitated a little before nervously laughing.

"Oh yes..I uh…was in there." She didn't seem to be speaking normally, but after a hardy laugh she seemed as crazy as she was before. "You're wives told me they needed sanitary supplies!"

Sasuke, along with the other three who were right behind them, grimaced. Partly because the girls were referred to as their wives and also partly because of one of them needing _sanitary_ items.

Sasuke however didn't believe the old woman. With one step he was at the door on which he knocked hard.

"Are you in there?!" he yelled.

"Can't we have some privacy!?" one of them yelled.

"We need to make sure you're all in there, open up!" he commanded.

"One."

"Two!"

"Three!"

"Four!" yelled four different voices. "You happy?!"

"Fine!" Sasuke said annoyed as he went back to his room.

Once the door was shut behind him he rubbed his temples.

"The sooner you get to sleep the saner you'll be." Naruto told him.

"I can't sleep now. I don't trust Tao, she's using being an old crazy lady to her advantage. I think I'd feel better if I guarded their room."

"Let me do it." Offered Neji. "My eyes can constantly check up on them, and also I've had a chance to rest longer then any of you."

"Alright." Sasuke said as Neji left the room. Sasuke then went back to his bed as did Naruto. Shikamaru simply went to his corner again; it wasn't hard at all for him to go right back to sleep.

Neji stood outside the girls' door about to use his eyes to check on them when he remembered Tao saying that she was giving them _sanitary_ items. So he decided to not use his eyes right away just in case they were still…using the items. He had no idea how long that would take since he never grew up with girls.

In the meantime Neji would sit down on the ground right next to the door so he could at least rest. He did so for a while always hearing movement in the room behind him, so they were still there. He began to rethink about his mark, now hiding under his forehead protector.

He was a protector, but there was something that bothered him about that. He closed his eyes to concentrate on why this word brought back memories to him. He searched his mind and couldn't connect the word protector.

'_Who else was a protector? Did I once know a protector?' _he wondered to himself.

Then in his mind he began to hear something. _'I always have to protect her.' _Said a deep voice in his mind. _'It's been my job since the day I was born.' _

'_So who protects me?' _asked the voice of a little kid. Neji had heard this voice before. It was his own voice as a child. It startled him at first but he tried to concentrate to continue listening, although in a small way it felt as if he was eavesdropping on somebody's conversation.

'_I protect you too. Don't you see? You are apart of her, so I protect you too.' _The male voice said.

'_What?'_squeaked the voice utterly confused. There was a husky laugh from the deep male voice.

'_Perhaps you are too young to understand. Just know that I protect you too, and so does she.' _

Whatever was going on in Neji's mind was then beginning to fade away slowly. He could still hear the voices but they were muffled and he had no idea what they were saying.

"No." he groaned as he tried to get the voices back. _'Was that a memory I once had? What was that?!'_

Slowly but surely he began to resist finding it again. He began to smell something sweet and his eyes began to feel heavy. He looked at his hands and noticed he had more then one pair of them. The hallway itself began to spin around. He knew he was about to fall asleep but not do to his exhausted state. Someone or something was causing him to go to sleep.

"That…smell…." He said weakly. It was too late to call for help. He fell to his side and fell into a deep sleep caused by whatever the sweet smell was.

A figure then walked up to Neji's body in the hall. She was wearing a mask so that the smell wouldn't affect her.

"Nighty night." She smiled from under the mask. Delicately she took out a key from her pocket and slid it under the girls' door. After that was done she grabbed Neji by the hands and began to drag him. Soon as she got him to the lobby Chung walked over to assist her.

"He didn't look that heavy." He commented as he helped pull.

"Where we put him?" asked the woman who then slipped off her mask to be revealed as Tao.

"Closet." Chung told her. "I'll take him you clean up your witchery." He said motioning to her clay pot that had some smoke coming out of the top. Lying against it was a fan.

"Hey, my momma's remade for sleeping not witchery! It for falling asleep!" she defended.

* * *

****

The girls, no longer in their room but at the top floor in the tower next to the Inn, were now all dressed in their new clothes for their escape. They had recreated their ugly clothes into outfits female warriors could have worn. Tenten was the only one who was not wearing her dress. Tao had supplied her with a Chinese dress she had gotten from the time when she lived in the Kingdom in the West as a teenager. Tenten was glad to feel something nice on her that was made from her home. It was also made a long time ago, back when people took the time to make the finest of dresses. It went mid thigh but she wore dark black short under it. She was no slut; she was a Princess after all. She had to look dignified.

Ino's outfit was the same color but she cut it into two pieces. Her top crisscrossed around her chest nicely exposing nothing, it twisted around her neck twice and then tied. Her hair was just up in its normal ponytail form.

Sakura's outfit almost resembled Ino's since it was two pieces. Her top only covered her chest, exposing a little bit, and tied twice. Once behind her neck and the other behind her back. Her skirt went right above her knee and on top of her skirt was a piece of black fabric taken from what they used to make Tenten's and Hinata's shorts. It had no purpose but it did look cool to her. The only thing Sakura wore that did make sense were the bandages over her right hand up to her elbow. She did this to hide her symbol.

Hinata was really nervous about her outfit. It was a little longer then Tenten's, and she _was_ wearing shorts, but her chest was exposed more then she wanted it to. Ino planned to make Hinata's dress into a halter top but cut the chest part too low for Hinata so Tao provided her with fishnets to help cover it. Hinata protested but they all hushed her and Ino added it on. Instead of tying like a normal halter Ino crossed the straps across her neck to help cover her chest more. The other problem with Hinata was her chest was the biggest in the group, so Tao gave them a belt to tie under her breasts for support. She left her hair down so it would cover the mark on her neck, and so she wouldn't be the only one to leave their hair down Sakura did so also.

"You are all ready to go then." Tao told them as Sakura handed her a key.

"Thank you for the key to this tower. Who would have guessed that you used this to make your clothes?"

"We sure lucked out!" said Ino.

"I only wish I could do more for you all." she said as she bowed as low as old lady possible. "I am most honored to be in the presence of royalty and of the Elemental Four." A few tears quietly fell from her eyes.

"Really, you have done so much for us." Hinata assured her.

"I only wish my daughter and her husband could see what has happened to me and Chung today." She told them. "They will never believe us. They will call us old."

"Well we swear to come to here again." Tenten told her. "After we find our protectors and if we make it back home."

"ARIGHT!!!!" Tao yelled no longer full of honor or sadness. "You make me big business!"

Each girl sweat dropped and laughed a little. Typical Tao, and they could say that.

"We'll be off then." Sakura said as she swiftly ran to the stairs. They each followed her but all came to a sudden stop once Tao called to them.

"Wait!" she yelled. "You go out this window!" she said pointing to the window on the west part of the room.

"Jump out the window?" asked Ino.

"NOOOOO SILLY!" Tao laughed. She went over to the window with the curious girls following her. She moved a box under it to help her reach the window's lock at the top. Once it was unhitched she opened it up and pointed out of it.

They all went to the window and looked at what she was pointing at. There was a glider attached to the wall next to the window on the outside that went to a tree down below.

"Nice fire escape huh?!" she asked them.

The girls looked at each other nervously.

"Alright fine!" Ino yelled as she went to use it first. "Might as well get this over with." Once both hands were on the glider firmly she jumped out of the huge window and slid down. The girls all watched with nervous anticipation, but Ino had made it to the bottom safely. Once she let go of the glider it automatically went right back to the top.

"Well….that sure is a nifty trick." Said Tenten who went next.

Each girl used the glider flawlessly and once Sakura came off of it last they all ran into the forest, tripping several times of course.

Tao then began to pray for their safe journey, but as soon as that was done she destroyed any evidence of them being up in the tower.

* * *

**Okay i actually drew a picture myself but it's not colored yet. It'll be colored by the AUTHOR's ASSITAN...if you remember him...aka he's my brother. So hopefully next chapter you'll have a visual on the girls.**

**OH sorry for this late update. **


	6. Reborn, Give Me Your Chicken Leg

Reborn, Give Me Your Chicken Leg

His eyes were glazed over with exhaustion, and the sun that was peeling in from the window wasn't helping him either

His eyes were glazed over with exhaustion, and the sun that was peeling in from the window wasn't helping him either. It wasn't hard for him to keep his eyes shut since he hadn't had any decent sleep in a while and the mission didn't help either. His muscles didn't hurt since he _was_ physically fit but still his journey had made him tired.

He tried to make a fist with his hand while he lied on his bed. It was only a little difficult since it felt like his hand was still sleeping along with his brain. After doing some stretches and eating something he would be back in prime form no problem. He was a Prince after all. He couldn't be _out_ of shape, but at that moment he sure did feel like he was. That's the funny thing about sleeping, makes you totally vulnerable.

Once more he tried to open his eyes fully but the sun had forced them to close again. No complaints really on his end. A few more minutes of snooze never hurt anyone. Until…

"SHIT! The sun?"

Sasuke's whole body shot up forgetting that he was ever tired. He stared straight out of the window hoping to see some form of water of the rain that was promised to be there. Bone dry. It was a sunny day out, not only that but it was nearly the afternoon.

"WAKE UP!" he yelled as he ran out of his bed tripping on the lying Shikamaru who had somehow transported from his original spot on the wall to in between his and Naruto's bed.

"We heard you the _first_ time." Naruto growled as he ripped his blanket off of him and swung his legs off his bed. His eyes popped more open when he realized he was closer to the ground than expected, but when he looked down he saw a dizzy Sasuke lying on top of a dizzy and pissed Shikamaru. "Hey…you guys slept down there?" Naruto asked innocently.

"NO YOU DOBE!!" Sasuke yelled as he scrambled off of Shikamaru. "We need to get out of here!" Sasuke yelled with urgency in his voice as he ran around looking for his things.

"What's the rush?" yawned Naruto as he and Shikamaru began to get themselves pulled together.

"It isn't raining!" He told them as he turned his neck showing the severity in his eyes. Shikamaru began to move even more quickly since he understood the severances of this. Naruto…still did not.

"So what? Good weather! What's there to be so worked up about?" he asked while getting his last thing on.

"You moron." Shikamaru said agitated. "It's easier to avoid people trying to save the princesses in the **rain**! Now anyone could be here any minute!"

"SHIT!" Naruto swore. "We need to get out of here!" His speed multiplied by ten and was done in only a few seconds.

"Sometimes I wonder about this guy." Shikamaru said under his breath as he followed Sasuke to the door.

"Who do you wonder about?" Naruto asked Shikamaru as he stood right behind him.

"Oh no one." Shikamaru said nonchalantly. He let out a nice yawn when Sasuke turned to the quickly.

"Neji isn't out here!"

"WHAT?!" Shikamaru and Naruto both yelled. In a second they were both out in the hall but Sasuke ran straight into the girls' room.

"Neji!" Naruto called out.

"They've escaped!" Sasuke yelled turning to his comrades.

"_And_ Neji is gone?" Naruto inquired.

"Something's up. They've got to be connected somehow." Shikamaru said out loud.

"I know just who to go to." Sasuke said darkly as he went to the front desks direction.

Shikamaru let out an annoyed sighed. "Not this Tao thing again." Naruto took a step next to Shikamaru looking puzzled. "He honestly believes that crazy old woman was helping them last night with something more than sanitary items. _Gross_. But she was totally nuts."

"Or using it to her advantage." Naruto said more seriously. "Just like Sasuke said last night. Maybe she.."

Naruto was cut off by a loud noise coming from the direction Sasuke had gone. He and Shikamaru ran there to see Sasuke holding up Chung by the collar.

"Where are they? You know!" Sasuke accused. His eyes were full of raw anger. There was no way he was going to mess up this mission, it was too important. It was SO important that out of all the skilled warriors they had in their kingdom his brother the King chose him to take on the task. He would not go home empty handed. Never would he show weakness.

"Don't make me ask you **again**!" he said shaking Chung at the word again. Chung's breathing sounded like gargling while Sasuke's was more calm and smooth. The man gave no answer still when the front door opened up to have Tao walking in. As her eyes opened wide at the shock of seeing her husband being mangled Shikamaru was quickly at her side with a dagger at her neck.

"Tell us where they are." He said as Chung noticed Tao being held at dagger point. "Come on." Shikamaru said getting bored already. "I'm going to kill her, so just tell us already…sheesh."

"No Chung! I am willing to die!" she vowed.

"Yeah," said Shikamaru's cool voice in her left ear. "But are you willing to watch him die, or have _him_ watch you?"

Goose bumps ran down her neck and a shot of worry went bursting through her chest. She could feel the sobs pushing their way up her throat but she continued to swallow them down.

"Hey!" came Naruto's voice from the other side of the counter pulling something lazily with his right hand.

"Nar..? HOW'D YOU GET OVER THERE SO FAST?" Shikamaru yelled not even seeing Naruto leave his original spot.

"I went here when you went to the door." He said bluntly. "Look what I found when I went into the mop closet."

"Neji?" asked Shikamaru hopeful as Sasuke looked over too.

"No." Naruto said sounding disgusted they would think that. "I found a mop!" He lifted up Neji in his hand to show them all. "See?! Nice look'n mop right?"

Sasuke let go of Chung and went over to Neji who was now lying on the ground.

"Be more careful with him Naruto!" Sasuke hissed as Naruto lifted up his head for support. "Neji…Neji can you hear me?" He stirred a bit and opened up his eyes. Sasuke was relieved. "Can you remember who did this to you?"

"Nin.._jas_.." he breathed as his eyes shut again.

"Shikamaru!" Sasuke called as he continued to stare at Neji. "Where do you think they went?"

"My guess is the same way they came since they don't know any other." He said nonchalantly. "I figure they knocked out Neji somehow and escaped sometime in the night. They're walking in flats but they were all a size too big so that could slow them down a fraction. I have a feeling they'll aim for the shack and then go back to the castle."

"We can't let them get to the castle." Naruto said seriously as he looked at Neji. "If they're going to point A to get to point B…"

"Then we'll just have to get to point B before they do." Sasuke finished. "Come on Neji get up. We need to go get the Princesses."

Sasuke stood up and headed over to the door where Shikamaru no longer had his dagger out. Neji began to sit up on his own. He stared at Sasuke's back in shock.

"They've escaped?"

"Yeah, while you were taking a nap in the closet." Naruto joked as he helped Neji up.

Shikamaru put his hands behind his head and exited the building. "Let's just get out of here already."

"Ha! Right behind you!" Naruto yelled energetically as he went after Shikamaru.

"You going to be alright?" Sasuke asked Neji as he walked up beside him.

"Yeah I'm fine. Tired, but I already feel like I'm getting better."

"Good. Cause we'll need your eyes soon."

"I figured. So. What are you going to do about them?" he asked while raising his eyebrows on the word 'them'.

"Just give us a minute." Sasuke said turning to Chung who was on the floor with Tao wiping his brow off.

Neji left the room and Sasuke took a few steps closer to them. The old couple began to shake when he was only just above them. He went into one of his pockets grabbing at something. They're eyes were shut tightly. They knew that it was the end for the both of them but that didn't matter. What they had done was brave and in their hearts they were both ready to die.

Sasuke grinned as he pulled out what he had been searching for.

"I really need to get out of here, so I'll just make this quick and painless."

* * *

"I don't know if you guys knew this or not…"

"DON'T. EVEN. SAY IT, INO!" yelled Sakura from the front of the group.

"BUT WE SHOULD'VE JUST GONE TO THEIR STUPID SHACK!"

They all came to a halt. Sakura was in the front somehow with Tenten steadily behind her and Hinata had walked into Tenten when they stopped. Ino was fuming in the back but then she quickly cooled.

"Sorry, but I'm just so exhausted. We could have been to the shack an hour ago and rested."

"But Ino, don't you think they would have gone that way too? That's why we're going _this_ way." Tenten explained in a kind soft voice.

"Can we at least risk a break?" She asked looking for something to sit on. "I'm so tired, and since they think we're going the other way then we should take a break."

"She does have a point." Tenten said looking over at Sakura. "Maybe we could just take a quick sit."

"Do you all really want to chance it?" she asked them.

They all shook their heads yes.

"Tenten could you make us some seats?" Ino asked her. "I'm pretty close to falling over."

Tenten gave her an affirmative nod and focused on the ground. She slammed down her right foot and lifted with her right hand. As she pulled up four seats of stone were formed and they all took a rest on it.

"What? No backs to these?" Ino began to complain.

"Can't you just be satisfied with this?" demanded Tenten. "And while you're at it I'm pretty hot. How about a nice _long_ breeze?" She asked dreamily.

Ino laughed feeling stupid. "Why didn't I think of that?" And as if she were calling someone to come over with her hand a breeze went through them all. Their hair blew up off of their sweaty necks and through some of the thinner fabrics.

"That felt nice." Sighed Hinata "Got any more?"

"An endless supply." She told her as she lifted up both of her arms as if in mock praise to bring upon more wind. The wind circled them more until they were all cooled off.

"Too bad Hinata can't just give us some water while we're at it." Laughed Tenten.

"So is our break good now?" asked Sakura who really formed the question to Ino.

"Nope! Not quite yet satisfied." She smiled as she took in some sun.

"I'm glad we did take this break though." Commented Hinata. "I feel like these shoes are one size too big. Anybody want to trade?"

"Same problem here." Said Tenten. "I can hear my blisters forming. Not feel, _hear_."

"So then what should we do now?" asked Ino. "I mean we're going like East of the shack which'll bring us more further East of our castle. Do we know for a fact that there is a village out here, or are we just guessing and hoping there is?"

"Even if there isn't then we'll still be fine." Sakura reassured. "We're lucky to be the Elemental Four, and they have the ability to understand to constellations for some reason. We can find our way home through the stars."

They all looked up into the sky wide eyed, but there were no stars to be seen there since it was in the afternoon of a sunny day.

Sakura sweat dropped. "Okay, well not now but later there will be. Until then we should hope that some passerby comes along this road with the way to there."

"But what happens if we come to a fork in the road?" asked Tenten.

"Oh please no. Don't talk about utensils. I'm starving right now." Ino complained as she grabbed her stomach.

"Hey," said Sakura as she stood up. "I'm hungry but you don't hear me complaining about it."

"Are we leaving?" asked Hinata as she too stood up along with Tenten.

"Yeah, let's get to this village already." Tenten said as she stretched out her arms. "We can get there and buy some food."

"But we don't have any money?" Hinata told her.

Tenten slumped down in depression. "Thanks Hinata."

"I'm sure we can figure something out." Ino said as she stood up and walked over to Sakura. "We're the elemental four, blah blah blah, I'm sure we'll think of something."

"You must be pretty hungry." Laughed Hinata.

"I had nothing at all last night!" Ino declared. "Well except the soup…and the bread…and the Chicken…but besides that nothing. Like I'm running on low here."

They all laughed at Ino and continued on their way. The complaints had lessoned throughout their walk since they kept each other distracted with talks about anything that came to mind.

"SHUT UP INO! WHY DO YOU KEEP TALKING ABOUT WHEN I FARTED IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE CONGREGATION AT THE WINTER BALL??" Sakura yelled.

But mainly the walk was peaceful.

* * *

His speed felt increased. Normally he wasn't the fastest runner amongst the four of them but right then he was more than alive! His fatigue had left his body faster than expected. He was almost sure that he could run to the castle and back before any of the others could. It was like being reborn as a **god**, and then he wondered…if any of his other abilities would be super charged. Would his strength increase? His strikes really leave a harder dent? He wondered.

"Neji…could you possibly slow down?" yelled Sasuke who seemed to be way in the back but was the second one in the line running through the tree tops. Naruto and Shikamaru were just a little behind him.

"I'm already slowing down for you guys!" Neji yelled back smiling. He was too exuberated by this ability of power. "I'd say you were all lagging…but I've never felt so ALIVE!!"

"Um…Neji yelling loudly? Seems more like something you would do Naruto." Shikamaru said.

"Hey! Is he trying to steal my thunder?" Naruto yelled out angrily.

"Wait!" Shikamaru yelled getting an idea. "Do you think Neji's really fast now since he's been marked as a Protector?"

That got him. Neji practically fell on the next tree branch in front of him. He stopped on the following one where they all gathered.

"You mean…I'm only this way because I'm a…protector?" he was in complete and utter shock that he almost forgot to breathe.

"That sounds about right." Sasuke confirmed. "Once marked you must get stronger. That _could_ be the deal for you signing your life away to one other person."

Neji glared coldly at Sasuke and then through a hard punch at him. Despite Neji's new ability of strength Sasuke still managed to dodge it. Neji gave him another one but Sasuke flipped backwards onto another branch.

"What the hell's your problem?!" Sasuke yelled.

"Don't tell me I belong to someone!" Neji snapped back. "I belong to know one! I'm my own person!"

"Okay okay GEEZE we get it already! Could you calm it down?" Naruto yelled while staring over at Neji. "MAN, you have no idea how ridiculous you look right now."

"Can it Naruto." Shikamaru said trying to stop him before there was another Neji outbreak.

"Neji, why are you loosing your head? Why aren't you dedicated to this mission?" demanded Sasuke.

"I am dedicated." He said not even convincing himself. "I just thought I was getting stronger on my own, I don't need things handed to me."

Naruto let out a sigh and jumped to the next branch. "Neji, just accept the perk and let's get a move on already. Jeeze."

"Neji can you see any sign of them?" Sasuke asked.

Neji did his eye trick and searched the area. Nowhere to be found and he could see a good distance.

"Nowhere." He reported.

"Then we need to get the lead out and stop stalling already. Let's go!" he yelled continuing their race through the trees.

"Just keep up." Neji smirked as he zoomed right by them all feeling a little bit better.

The animal in all four of them emerged. The sweet scent of meat had filled their nostrils and awakened their primitive blood.

"Which way is it Ino?" asked Sakura as she kept sniffing in the scent.

"Girl, why the **hell** are you asking me?"

"We do call you a pig for more reasons than one." Sakura teased evilly.

"You know what _forehead_ you're really pissing me off now." Ino said as a huge vein throbbed on her head.

Hinata then pointed up into the sky. "Look! Smoke!"

Tenten looked up too. "And that means…"

"FOOOOOD!" yelled both Ino and Sakura who began to chase the direction of the smoke.

Tenten and Hinata both stared at the trail of dust the two girls had left behind them. Tenten was the one who broke the quietness.

"Sakura was just as hungry as Ino…wasn't she…?"

"Uuuuuh" Hinata's eyes twitched while still staring at the trail of dust.

"MINE INO!"

"NO MINE FOREHEAD!"

The two girls raced quickly through the trees getting faster still until they stopped so fast they fall on top of each other. Sakura on top of Ino.

"Look what you made me do!" Yelled Sakura as she pushed herself up.

"You're just mad that I was ahead of you. So apologize for falling on me!"

"You'd like that wouldn't you?" Sakura accused getting closer into Ino's face.

"Of course! That's why I asked you to. Duh!"

Soon they were both pressing their foreheads against each other trying to push the other over when Hinata and Tenten came jogging up near them.

"Hey guys," huffed Tenten. "What's the deal?"

The two girls quickly split apart crossing their arms facing away from each other.

"If the pig wasn't so selfish about getting the food…"

"Oh DON'T give me that you ran right at my heels!"

"You mean you're PIG feet!"

"So you admit to running at my heels then!"

"Both of you Stop!" yelled Tenten.

"Which reminds me, why did you guys stop in the first place?" asked Hinata.

Ino pointed over in the direction of where they were going to run to. "Well there was an old man there eating a huge chicken leg and…oh he's still there."

"Wait..a person?" Tenten asked as she looked around Ino.

Indeed where she was pointing there was an old man who was standing as frozen as a statue with his chicken leg in mid bite. He was staring at all of the girls with a big shocked expression on his face.

"Sir!" Tenten asked quickly. "Please, is there a village near here?"

He said nothing.

"He isn't moving." Whispered Hinata to Tenten.

Sakura and Ino stood staring at him and Hinata and Tenten both walked over right next to them forming a line.

"Maybe he can't hear?" whispered Sakura to the others.

"Ino, you're loud. You try." Whispered Tenten.

Ino scrunched her face but took a step forward towards the man. "PLEEEASE sir, .?"

All three of the girls sweat dropped as Ino tried to communicate with a possible deaf.

The old man blinked at her.

"IS THERE A VILLAGE NEAR HERE?" Ino asked him.

There was no response. He just stood there frozen as ever. This infuriated Ino. She ran over to him and began to shak him rapidly.

"OLD MAN WHY AREN'T YOU TALKING TO US? SPEEEAK DAMN YOU SPEEAK!"

"AAGK….Please witch! Stop shaking me!" he yelled in his little scrawny old man voice.

All of the girls smiled that he was finally talking to them, but Ino's smile quickly changed into a pissed off face and she began to shake him again.

"WHO YOU CALLING A WITCH!?"

"I'll help you witch! Please let me free!"

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!"

"Please witch PLEASE!"

"FINE! I _AM _a witch! Now sacrifice your Chicken leg to me!"

* * *

This and my other story are late because of a computer crashing, fanfiction not letting me onto facebook,( I mean not letting me onto fanfiction.) another computer crashing, and now another computer crashing….But let's not have those things prevent us any further.


	7. Air Puppets

Air Puppets

His senses had increased along with his strength. It was incredible and exhilarating to him, exactly like being reborn. Every branch could be seen with more definition and the footsteps of his comrades behind him were heard with perfect clarity. He knew what branch they were on; he could even hear the bottoms of their shoes scraping dirt off their souls as they pushed off the branch.

Smelling was something he was trying to stop doing since he could smell how unclean they all were. Three days without bathing enhanced their manly odder, but with Neji's stronger sense of smell the odder was a little TOO pungent; thus increasing his speed a little.

Naruto, second in the run through the trees, was noticing the burst of energy Neji had been displaying increase more than it had earlier that day.

"Is it because he left the closet?" he yelled.

"WHAAAAAAAT?!" All three guys yelled.

Neji tripped as this was said and they all came to a halt. Naruto began to laugh.

"I mean Neji's FINALLY out of the closet! God only knows how long he kept himself in there for. Maybe that's why he's so fast."

_**!!BoNK!!**_

"Oh wait! Naruto might have something there!" laughed Shikamaru. Naruto rubbed his head in pain where Neji had slammed his fist.

"That's not funny." Neji said flatly while still looking pissed.

"Just a thought." Naruto offered as he began to run ahead them all.

They all stood there a moment longer before following. Neji easily ran faster than Sasuke and Shikamaru, but that didn't bother them at that particular moment-they were both exchanging a smirk at Naruto's comment. Neji would have made another scene if he saw them do _that_.

Soon they were back in their regular formation.

Neji, in the lead, still living in the _**G**_**lory** of his new speed.

Naruto, trying to be at his heels but no where near enough, hoping they could find some food soon.

Shikamaru, behind Naruto, not running directly behind him but more to the right. Naruto tried so hard to be next to Neji that branches, or pieces of them, would shoot out from under his feet and onto Shikamaru's face.

'_Oh I get it NOW….that must be why Sasuke decided to take the rear.' _Shikamaru thought as he took a quick glance behind him at his friend. _'Must be annoyed with Naruto kicking shit into his face. Buuut….I can understand that.'_

Sasuke, was at the rear, watching everyone's backs. He didn't see it as slowest since normally he _was_ fastest, _'Except now Neji has THIS…ability.' _He thought to himself with a **dark** _jealous_ tone. Truthfully he was never jealous at Neji for being improved im-_mensely, _no way was that the case. He was thrilled that his group had become more powerful. It would be impressive to anyone who saw the squad he led stronger than any other squad his older brother, the _**king**_, had sent out before them. However, the fact was that he figured Neji would and the others would _think_ he was jealous about this causing them to see him as weak. This only made Sasuke angrier and annoyed with them for thinking that.

He once saw Neji turn around and look back at him. Neji smiled and then faced forward.

'_WoAH! What the hell was that? Was that him being smug? So he DOES think he's better than me. Naruto,' _he thought with a darker tone. _'must think I'm weaker than _he _is._

'_That fool. I'll show him. I'll show him AND his new competitor Neji not to mess with me.' _

He began to pick up his speed, and then decided against it. Someone _did_ have to hold up the rear. He would just show them both up another day.

He let out a breath. This mission was making him go crazy. He would never think to out do one of his comrades; friends. He only tried to out do Naruto all the time for two simple reasons.

One: Well….Naruto _was_ the one who started it. He was always treated as garbage in his kingdom for being a total outsider. He looked at Sasuke as a sort of goal. If he could beat him then he would be respected…_sorta_.

Sasuke The Crowned Prince of Konoha!

Sasuke The Living Phenomenon! Qualified in all forms of combat at the age of thirteen. Skilled Swordsman. Expert Equestrian.

Yes. Beating all of _that_ would get him a better name for sure. So he did. He worked hard to make a name for himself. By defeating Sasuke Uchiha; Crowned Prince. People would have to respect him then, even the effort would have to earn him some respect from others. The unlikely other who had found respect for him was none other than Sasuke.

Early on he found the annoyance _amusing_ and kept him around to train. This pleased him, and made his boring dull days of Dusty Perfection more livable.

Watching Naruto struggle to become better was humorous, it was the only thing he would look forward to seeing. Naruto would try to perfect something that Sasuke had already perfected ages ago. The only difference was the way he would go about it. Naruto taught himself other ways to get what he wanted, and this furthered Sasuke's interest in him.

The interest soon after thus turned into _**A**_nger and _**E**_nvy. Naruto was catching up quickly with him at an abnormal rate. His approach on how to do things his _own_ way had him nearly neck and neck with Sasuke.

Sasuke would try to convince himself that because Naruto had someone to chase after in his efforts to be recognized he had become better, _faster_. Which was number…

Two: This would only make him stronger, maybe even stronger than his older brother. If Sasuke was a Prodigy, then his brother was on a whole other level with the **Greats**. So Sasuke fought back with Naruto. He forced himself to not be out done by someone who was no better than one of his servants. He worked hard to make it known where Naruto's place was alongside himself. This, however, didn't make matters any better. If anything it made Naruto want to defeat Sasuke more! And with Naruto's determination, and odd ways of achieving his goals through peculiar and questionable methods, he was still neck and neck with Sasuke.

It was, to Sasuke, as if he could not escape his own _**Shadow**_ that he and Naruto were so close; but his shadow was Naruto. To Sasuke that meant that they would eternally be stuck together in an eternal damnation that was them fighting each other. Or it was _once_ like that, until they had become friends. More so, Brothers.

Sasuke stared at Neji again with hate. He took in a deep breath filling in his whole chest until there was no more room for the air to go. He imagined all the air in his body was against the walls of his insides grabbing at all the negative things in there.

He let the air out, and along with that, all of the negative things and the hatred.

The only thing left was probably the mother of those dark feelings: Sadness.

It wasn't a wimpy sadness because my **God** it was SASUKE for crying out loud. Women everywhere admired his manliness and sacrificed **CHIckEn LegS** for him for goodness sakes!! But it was only the sadness that he was loosing his never-ending arch rival to someone else. Not only his rival, but his best friend; and a part of Sasuke's self too. A self he had started to like. A self that was him trying to be better.

_Yes_, better than Naruto (like he always was), but also just…Better.

Another breath left his lungs in a more relaxing soothing way.

'_I'm not loosing anyone.' _He told himself. _'They're my friends, I won't loose them.' _He smiled to himself. _'Besides, if they beat me in strength I beat them in looks!'_

* * *

"This is too pathetic to stare at."

Tenten stared at Ino in disappointment. She had gotten the old man to give up his chicken leg to her by telling him she was a _witch_! _'She would.' _Tenten thought as they all stared at Ino.

The old man was now a few yards away from Ino shaking with what appeared to be no body fat. That was understandable. Ino was mad and the wind blew around cold air. Tenten rubbed her arms instinctively to warm them up.

With another huge ravenous bite Ino attacked the chicken leg, but with that bite it fell out of her hands.

Sakura sniggered.

"That's what you get Ino!" she smirked. Tenten let out a quick laugh too. It did serve Ino right she thought.

Quickly Ino snatched up the food and began eating it again.

All three girls dropped their jaws.

"Ino! I..I….I, **am** SHOCKED!" declared an indeed shocked Sakura. Tenten's and Hinata's expression were clear that they agreed, although their faces never changed from the dropped jaws.

Ino looked at them confused and offended. After swallowing a big gulp she shrugged. "What? Three second rule!"

They all fell over anime style.

"INO!" Sakura yelled with veins popping out of her forehead. "THAT'S NO WAY A PRINCESS SHOULD ACT!"

"Oh NO!" The old man cried as he fell to his knees.

The girls looked over at him confused.

"You're all under her spell! She's made you believe she is a princess!" He rubbed his hands in the ground as if he was frantically looking for something. With his hands covered in dirt he rubbed his entire face. Once all the dirt was off his hands he got more dirt on them and continued to rub it on his face.

Each girl stared at the disturbed man.

"Ew! That is so gross!" Ino declared as she watched him apply dirt to his face while still eating her chicken leg.

"YOU'RE ONE TO TALK!" They all yelled at her.

"Three second rule!" she declared again while taking another bite of leg.

Tenten, almost embarrassed to be seen with Ino, walked over to the old man washing his face in dirt with her hand on her forehead.

Ino walked next to Sakura and Hinata who watched as Tenten approached the man.

Ino's voice was low. "The Tenten approaches the scrawny meat."

Both girls sweat dropped.

"Excuse me sir. We really need your help." Tenten told the old man. He continued to rub dirt all over his face. "Sir, we need to find the nearest village. We need to get home." She said her voice now sounding desperate.

"Evil Magic leave!" he whined.

"The Tenten pokes around at her prey. The prey does not retreat."

Tenten cracked her knuckles grabbing the poor mans attention. Her face looked totally mad! "Tell me where the village is!" she demanded.

"The Tenten begins to play with her food."

The old man yelped. "You have been corrupted!" he jumped to his feet and began to rub dirt on her face. "Evil Magic Leave!!" he begged out loud.

"The Tenten lets out a low and horrifying growl."

Tenten let out a deep noise. She grabbed the man by his collar with one hand and lifted him up.

"YOU BETTER TELL US WHERE THE VILLAGE IS!" she yelled as she shook him frantically.

"Aaaaah, not again!" he yelled stressed out.

"You horribly gross MAN!! WHY ON EARTH DID YOU RUB DIRT ON ME?!"

"The Tenten growls at her meat. And she takes it shaken…not stirred."

"She is NOT a WITCH! GET IT through your HEAD already why dontcha!"

"Corruption!" the old man whined. "You are full of unholy corruption!"

"What kind of corruption is Holy?" Sakura asked more to herself.

"Ino did you finish that chicken leg yet?" Hinata asked ignoring the episode Tenten was having.

Ino showed Hinata her meatless chicken leg. "I'm sorry I didn't save you any. When I'm hungry you do _not_ want to know me."

"I'm sure there are plenty of times when I don't want to know you." Sakura said under her breath.

"No Ino, I didn't want to eat any of it. I just want to throw it at Tenten's head to shut her up."

Ino looked at the leg and then back at Hinata with confusion. "But…I'm not done yet."

Sakura and Hinata, both skeptical, stared at Ino with total bewilderment as the Tenten scene continued to happen behind them.

Hinata spoke carefully choosing her words. "But..didn't you just say you were sorry for not having any left?"

"Well…no _meat_, but! That doesn't mean I still can't lick it." Ino said with satisfaction.

Hinata's jaw dropped not believing what she was hearing and Sakura went right back to staring at Tenten with a dull expression.

"Whatever Ino." She said. "Just give me your bone when you're done so I can throw it at your big dumb piggy skull."

"WHO YOU CALLING BIG SKULLED _FOOOOREHEAD_?"

As soon as Ino and Sakura got back into one of their infamous fights there was a high pitched scream coming from over the tree tops.

They all froze.

"Someone needs help!" Tenten yelled over to them as she dropped the old man.

More blood curdling screams were heard.

Sakura spoke very hesitantly. "We need to…help them."

"Should we?" asked Ino quietly. "What could we possibly do?"

"We're the Elemental Four!" Sakura told her.

"We're out of practice." Ino told her. Tenten cam over to them and stood between Sakura and Ino.

"We'll get into practice quickly." Hinata informed her confidently.

"Hinata?" Ino and Sakura both asked confused. "Why so bold Hinata?" Sakura asked.

"No more Talking!" Hinata yelled. "Let's go handle the situation. We can do this. No more discussions. It's time to act!"

"It's time to act!" Sakura agreed.

"No more deliberating." Tenten agreed.

Ino smirked and threw her bone away. "What are we doing? Let's get to it."

"Just like that?" asked Sakura. "You bitch about your food and now you throw it away?"

The old man let out a horrible cry. The girls turned their bodies towards him. "My Village!" He breathed as he fell back to his knees. "My family. My little girls!"

They all ran over to his side. Tenten and Ino grabbed him at the elbows and heaved him up, but his legs refused to buckle straight.

"Old man." Hinata began soothingly. "We can help you save your village. Show us the way. We don't have anymore time to loose."

"What can any of you girls do except be captured?" he asked not taking his eyes off the ground. "It's useless."

Tenten, who normally would not let a man get away with such a comment, held her tongue as Hinata finished explaining.

"It's _not_ useless. We're the Elemental Four. We're here to help you."

Just hearing the words "Elemental Four" shot a lightning bolt through his whole body. He stared up at them all. At that moment the sun hit them all. Each of them glistened. They all looked more powerful then they had previously. There was a change in them that he could see, that he could _feel_. He no longer felt scared, but reassured.

This gave him the strength to stand up. He even shook them off and began to walk ahead.

"This way. My village is _this_ way. Come ON!"

They smiled and followed him in a brisk run.

'_Who would have guessed this old man was fast at all?!' _thought Tenten.

It wasn't long before they were at the border of his village. In the distance they could make out smoke. They all guessed a fire was happening somewhere. All around there were screams being heard. People were being round up to the center of the village by men who seemed to be nothing but your usual bandits. They seemed very persuasive with their swords and torches. Everyone obeyed without hesitation.

"Looks like bandits are destroying your village." Ino commented as they all peered through the bushes. The old man was to her right and was also in between Sakura who stared at the situation intently. Hinata was next to her looking over Sakura to Ino. Tenten had her lower arm in the ground to control herself. Innocent people getting hurt always made her ferocious.

"This isn't the first time that these brutes have come to our village." He told them. "They came once before about a month ago demanding a huge payment of gold. Luckily they only got away with half of our gold since a stranger, who was making a detour to the Kingdom in the West, stopped them."

Tenten's heart nearly stopped at the name of her Kingdom.

"And now they're back?" she asked. This angered her even more. Having a village attacked not once but twice? "They need to learn their lesson now since they couldn't learn it the first time."

"Is there more or less than there was the first time?" asked Hinata.

"Beats me. They look about the same in numbers as before. What will you all do?"

Sakura smirked over at Ino who smirked back. "A plan?" offered Sakura.

"You have any ideas?" Ino asked back with the same gleeful attitude.

"We need to get them out of the village." Sakura said. "Once out they need to be permanently out of the picture."

Hinata looked staggered. "You mean we…have to…"

"Kill them, Hinata." Tenten said to her sternly. "Even if we _did_ get them to leave the village they would only come back again."

Ino nodded her head in agreement. "Old man." She said looking at him. "Is there any body of water near by?"

He thought for a minute before his expression turned into excitement. "Yes witch!" he declared. "But….it's on the opposite side of where we are now."

"That'll be fine." Sakura decided. "Hinata and Tenten." They both looked at Sakura getting ready for the plan. Ino also crouched over towards them to be in on whatever Sakura was deciding. She no longer wanted to be near the old man who was still convinced somehow that she was a witch. "Ino and I are going to go in and get them to that body of water, that's where Hinata will get her ammo from. Both of you run along the perimeter of the village and get to it. They'll all flee out that way. Hopefully we can take them all out out there instead of killing them in front of the woman and children."

"Not a bad idea." Tenten said with a smirk enjoying the plan very much. "They'll never know what hit them."

"So Sakura," began an enjoyed Ino who had a feeling what her part would be. "Are we going to be doing what I _think_ we're doing?"

"Yes! Tenten, Hinata, both of you take off your cloaks and start to the water."

Hinata looked at Sakura confused as she, along with the other three, took off their cloaks that they had warn to cover their limited clothing.

"Both of you hurry!" Ino told them.

They nodded and ran away secretly into the trees.

Ino stood with her hands on her hips feeling, and looking, proud of herself. "I've been waiting to try this out. Think it'll work?"

"I don't doubt your skills." Sakura smiled back. "I know your abilities, you can do this. I have confidence in you."

Ino scoffed. "As you should."

Sakura closed her eyes tightly with a vein throbbing on her forehead, along with the rest of her body shaking in place. "Old man….just you stay here out of sight, kay?"

He began to shake in fear. "Don't have to tell me twice. I'm not nuts."

Sakura looked over at Ino. She had just laid the last cloak on the ground. They were all lying in a row and she stood behind and in the middle of the middle two.

"Ready to do this?" Sakura asked her in a less confident voice.

Sakura swore she heard Ino gulp, but wouldn't tell her that. "I've been waiting for you to go." She said her voice nearly on the cusp of cracking.

"Then let's get it started." Sakura smirked.

"Finally." Ino said staring down at the cloaks. She put her arms out straight forward, palms down. "Time for my 'Air Puppets'."

* * *

**Now I have school so...yeeeeah. I'll always be late with updates. Spelling errors in thisof course. i always have them. SORRY! :) **


	8. The Golden Helmet, A Rope Made of Hair

The Golden Helmet, A rope made of Hair

_Whenever their fathers brought them to the alliance castle, Ino and Sakura usually got there a day or two before Tenten and Hinata, Sakura first with Ino shortly after her. Those two days were always boring without Hinata and Tenten present. So, until they got there the Princesses of the North and the East would play around with their elements all they could. _

_At first it was just simple tricks. They would try to form their element into looking like an animal or a symbol. Sakura found this difficult. She would try harder, but each and every time she did she would scorch the ends of her dress. Sometimes even Ino's._

"_Sorry Ino!"apologized the pink haired princess after the tip of her flame nipped at the end of Ino's dress. "I'm not good at my element like you are."_

"_Sakura, don't start talking like that." Said Ino. She was getting angry at Sakura's low self-esteem. "If you keep thinking that you're not good at your element then you never will!"_

_Sakura dropped to her butt crossing her legs. She stared at the ground and pulled at the blades of grass. "I don't think I want to be good at my element anyways." She admitted. _

_Ino grew shocked. "What? Why not?"_

_Sakura didn't respond. She couldn't explain her fear of the fire, and the hate she had for it. _

'_Fire can only destroy, and it burns others. It cannot help anyone. It only upsets everything, and I had to be the one to control it.' _

_Ino sighed and sat next to her friend. She held onto her knees and stared up at the sky smiling. _

"_You know what? The only reason I'm making more progress than you is because my element is so easy."_

_Sakura looked up at her confused. Ino continued. "I don't think I could wield fire, but the wind…it's like dancing to me. Not always, it used to be like…well," she tapped her chin and began to think of an analogy. "It's like if Hinata had to live in the ocean under water, and she had to control the water. It's hard because there's all this pressure on you at once. My life used to be like living in a huge fishbowl…filled with air!" Ino laughed. "That's what I thought. That there was too much and I couldn't control it, but then I changed my way of thinking."_

"_Really? How did you do that?"_

_Ino smirked. "I changed my perspective on it. I no longer thought of it as pressure all around me." Ino then laughed at something that seemed to be an inside joke. Sakura didn't ask. "Long story short? When I told myself that controlling the wind would be like plucking clouds out of the sky and twirling them around, it was so much simpler. After that, it became easier and lighter. Like dancing."_

_Sakura's eyes widened in wonderment at what Ino had shared with her. No. It wasn't what was bothering her, but it really did help to hear even Ino had a weakness. Not only that, but she overcame it, and that made her the smallest bit hopeful. Sakura began thinking to herself that she too could perfect her element, once she got over the fear of fire. Then she could be just as amazing as Ino._

_The expression she must have been making made Ino smile at her warmly._

"_Don't worry. You'll get over your problem. Practice makes perfect, that's what they always say right?" Ino told her rolling her eyes trying to make Sakura smile more. "And you know? This problem doesn't own you. Big or small, you own it. You can control it." She said with a huge toothy smile.

* * *

_

Sakura couldn't help but stifle a giggle when she looked at the enemy they were supposed to fight. Ino looked up at her confused and cocked her head to the side.

Sakura, standing high up in a tree, looked over the scene of the villagers being forced to stand in a group. The bandits held small burlap bags out in front of them as they put in whatever gold they had on their person.

Sakura looked down at the men in disgust. It was a small village and clearly very poor. How much money did they think they would acquire by doing this? _'Nips to nothing.' _She thought to herself. She could see people handing in little brass nips along with their gold, but she couldn't make out any silver being put in.

"MASTER!" bellowed the biggest man. His head was mostly balled except for the long black ponytail that came out of the center, going past his belt.

Sakura looked around to see which one of the brutes was the master, but none seemed to fit the appearance of one. All of the other men looked to be the same as the big one. Whether they were big or very slim with only _some_ muscle, they each had the same hairstyle as the big one.

'_A fasion statement.' _Sakura first thought to herself. No sooner she thought that did a better reason come to mind. _'They probably have their hair like that so that they can identify themselves from rival brutes. Kind of like a team color or a logo. I bet that's it. Sure is funny though. It's like having a small tribe of people who worship __**Ino**__!'_ she giggled.

"_Sakura_!" Ino whispered up from the ground. She was pointing at something Sakura had not noticed. A white horse that was pulling a small gold carriage, it was at what appeared to be the entrance of the village.

'_It's practically a basket.' _Sakura thought when looking at the size of it when LIGHTBULB. _'The leader is in there!'_

"Master?" the huge brute asked.

The carriage began to move causing a squeaking noise to come out from the bottom. Once it stopped the rest of the bandits gathered in front of their hostage circle, going down on one of their knees. The larger one, obvious to Sakura as the second in command, kneeled in front of the rest. They all waited in the silence, and soon it had become eerie.

Sakura swallowed loudly as she stared unblinkingly at the small door, waiting for it to open. Ino, too, had her eyes glued to the small door, tense for action.

At last, the door threw open! No sooner did that happen did Ino's and Sakura's jaws drop. Out of the carriage came a skinny man wearing tight clothes made of, what appeared to be, crème cashmere. A leather belt was worn around his hips covering the shirt, and skinny brown leather pants, made from some sort of reptile, were tucked inside pointy gold boots. The heels on the boots had to have been no less than six inches. The man alone was short for the average man, even at that height. But the thing that had made the girls so shocked was what adorned his head.

It was not the long ponytail worn by all the bandits. It was, what looked to be, a solid gold hair piece. It sat on his head as high as the heels did off of the ground. It was larger in the front and the tip of it ended in a curl over his forehead. It was more bizarre than anything the girls had ever seen.

With his hands folded behind his back, the leader walked quickly to his kneeling group. Closing the distance between them made the bandits cower lower to the ground, their eyes averting right to the dirt and not towards their master.

Next came the reason why Sakura and Ino's jaws dropped for a second time.

"Jiro, you _fool_." Cooed the voice of the leader.

JAW DROP

It was the voice of a deep male, however, the three words came out as if he were trying to speak at a higher tone.

'_So strange.' _Thought Sakura. _'Why is his voice going so high pitch like a woman's?' _

The leader then chuckled putting his delicate and sickly hand on the shoulder of the big man Jiro, who flinched. "Jiro, Jiro, Jiro." He said shaking his head. "WHAT," he yelled hitting the 'T' hard with his teeth. "were the things I asked of you?"

Jiro grew hugely confused. His hand tightened around his bag and he looked at all the bandits behind them with their bags too.

Before responding with his answer, he began to shake. This caused him to stutter on his words. "W..we're su..suppoed, SUPPOSED to take all the g..g..gold. We did..did as you..ask..ask…ASKED!" he finally managed. "ButALSO…we took non gold pieces too. A payment to _us_…since master would have n..n..no need for them."

The leader looked at the man with false sympathy "OH Jiro," he said shaking his head. "You know I don't mind it when my men take a few nips for themselves."

'_That sounded…so inappropriate. Thankfully he didn't wink when he said it.' _Thought a disturbed Ino.

"However," the leader began, his tone turning colder. "I asked you to find me something _else,_ and it is nowhere in front of me tied up in a pretty red bow like you promised!"  
Jiro's head snapped up to look at his master. "NO!" he shouted upset. "I forgot…thi..this was the village holding him. I forgot to find him! FORGIVE ME!" he groveled as his whole body laid flat on the ground.

The leader rolled his eyes. "Yeah, kay, just stay like that for a minute." He said quickly as he stood atop his back.

With his feet planted in place he looked over the villagers. His face turned disgusted at the sight of them. "If you want something done, you must do it with your own pair of hands." He sighed to himself. Then his face turned into a mocking sneer. As if on cue the villagers made a small gasping noise; the reaction that he was hoping for. "It's been so long." He told them all as if he were telling it to an old friend. "I know last time didn't go so well…we left without little that time…so we're just here to recollect. And burn your houses down to the ground so that we don't ever need to come again. Sigh, but I need your help." He told them all looking exhausted and troubled. "Before we can destroy everything, I need you to bring out the STAR for me so that he doesn't get scorched in the process. Sigh, I'd really like to leave and keep with my schedule so if someone could go fetch him out we can get this all over with."

His eyes lazily grazed over at all the people to find some response from them. None of them moved, and most of them averted his gaze by looking down in different directions.

"WELL?!" he yelled.

Still no response from the crowd of captive villagers.

The leader shook with anger. He clenched his fists tightly. "HOW DARE YOU ALL DISOBEY THE GOLDEN HELMET!" he yelled as he jumped up and down. "IF YOU DO NO BRING HIM OUT I'LL START KILLING YOU OFF ONE BY ONE!"

Some of the villagers looked at each other for support. It would be easier to hand over the one person that the Helmet wanted then to lose anyone else.

"Not so fast Helmet!" yelled a scrawny old voice.

All the people, brutes and Helmet included, turned to face the source of the noise. There off to the side of the entrance stood one of their elders, Ryuu, who was accompanied by four people covered from head to toe in different color cloaks. Their hoods hung low so no one could make out their faces.

The villagers seemed startled by the people besides Ryuu, but the Helmet felt they were no threat towards himself and his pack of bandits. He raised a perfect penciled-in eyebrow at them all and smirked.

"Reinforcements have we? I'd be worried, except these don't wear armor like your green knight did."

"He was more than a match for you and all of your men!" Ryuu declared. "He sent you all away with your tails between your legs! I'm sure none of you have forgotten that." He said also addressing the bandits who were now standing up more alert. All of their hands were on the hilts of their swords; bags of coins were now forgotten on the ground by their feet.

The Golden Helmet smiled very amused. "And you think that these four _will_ be a match for my men?" he sighed disappointed. "I've come prepared this time, you see. I learn from my mistakes and brought one extra man with me." He snapped his fingers. Immediately there was a bandit standing on top of the gold carriage, bow and arrow pointing right at the old man.

Sakura's eyes widened in shock. _'That must have been the driver of the carriage.'_ She decided.

The old man let out a short laugh. "You think that archer will help you?"

This made the Golden Helmet loose his smirk. He hated the confidence he saw from the old man instead of the fear that should have been there.

The Golden Helmet let out a louder snap; this caused the archer to release his bow aimed right at one of the four cloaked people. Ryuu dropped to his knees, arms over his head protectively, as the arrow zoomed towards the person in the royal blue robe. All of the people stared wide-eyed as the arrow hit its target, but they all let out gasps when the arrow went right through the robed person leaving a tear behind.

"WHAT!?" yelled the Helmet. "How on EARTH…?!"

Ryuu smirked as he stood back on his shaking legs. "There. You see? You can't defeat these four men. So leave before they attack back!" he warned.

The Helmet stared at the four cloaked men with an analyzing eye. His penciled-on eyebrows were confused. The arrow had gone through the man in the blue robe. He knew it went _through _him because everyone could see the arrow land on the ground close to the trees once its path was slowed by the fabric of the cloak. What he didn't understand was _how._

Looking at the other three men, minus the old man, he wondered if they could all do the same thing that the one in blue could. If they could, then he was in for a tricky battle.

Rolling his eyes the Helmet looked over at his confused archer. Once the archer looked over at him the Helmet said to him, "_Fire_…another one!"

The archer nodded in understanding and lifted his shirt a bit revealing a belt made of gold. On the belt was a gold box with a golden chain dangling from the left side. After tucking the parts of his shirt that were around the gold box into his pants, he readied himself with another arrow.

Not many people had noticed, but the smallest of the bandits had run over to the coach and was now crouched on top of its roof. The bandit's little hand grabbed for it for the gold chain. The archer placed the tip of his arrow at the other end where a small hole was.

Then, the bandit pulled on the chain.

This action shot out fire from the gold box, and the arrow, which the archer put towards the other end, caught on fire. The Helmet smirked.

"Fire!" he called out.

The archer let go of his arrow and it sped through the air just like the first one. It was aimed at the blue robbed man again; the Helmet smirked with confidence. He knew that even if it was the same trick like the first time, at least the robe would catch on fire. Everyone watched the arrow go to its target, but then something different happened.

"WHAAAT?!" yelled the Helmet in disbelief.

A gasp was let out by the villagers. The bandits all staggered backwards now fully afraid of the situation they were in. The only person who was half surprised was the old man, Ryuu. He stared at the flaming arrow with wide surprised eyes. He wouldn't have believed it if he wasn't witnessing it for himself. But there it was, hovering in the air right in front of the blue robe. He knew he was with the Elemental Four, but it was finally starting to feel real.

Sakura, in the tree, was surprised at how easy it was to stop the arrow in midair. She was more delighted, than surprised, that even from such a distance, fire was such a simple thing to control. She wanted to run a multitude of things through her mind that she could try to do with fire from a far distance, but the game they were playing wasn't over yet. She looked down at Ino. Her arms were extended straight out and she was concentrating on keeping the four robes standing with her wind entering from underneath them all.

No one had suspected that the robes were empty, and no one could see that they were only air-filled since Ino was doing such an amazing job. Sakura recalled all the times she would practice it. When they were kids she could only do one, but when she grew older she could keep many cloaks and robes up so that they all looked like real people.

That is why this technique deserved a cool name.

_Flashback_

_Sakura stood in the center of three robes being held up by Ino. "This is nice work, Ino." Sakura told her with slight giddiness in her tone. "Actually, it's just so amazing! This seems more like magic then air!"_

"_I can't wait to show Tenten and Hinata when they get here!" Ino exclaimed as she twirled around the robes. "I've been practicing this for years and I think within the last few weeks I've gotten it to complete perfection!"_

_Sakura smirked and shook her head. "You know, you keep saying that _this _time they're perfect, but they were perfect the last time too."_

"_But this time you can't see the air moving around inside them." Ino smirked over at Sakura. "Think of all the pranks we can pull in the palace. We won't be bored any longer!"_

"_Uuuuh…right!" Sakura reluctantly said. She knew that Ino knew how she felt about using their powers near anyone but themselves. Even thinking about doing the robe dancing trick near others scared her of the possibility of being discovered. "Soooo, what are you going to call this trick?" she asked when she saw the way Ino was looking oddly at her. _

"_Oh!" Ino then gave it some thought while she moved them around. "I think I'll call these lovelies my…Air Puppets! Yeah! Air Puppets!" She looked over at Sakura with excitement. "What do you think?"_

_Sakura's face still held anxiety. "I like it." She decided while trying to relax her face. It worked enough for Ino to believe she was happier. "You're amazing at your element. This is the proof!"_

"_Yeah? Great! Thank you. Tomorrow I'll show Hinata and Tenten!" Ino laughed as she spun her air puppets around some more. _

_The next day Ino couldn't find any robes, cloaks, or capes to do her trick with because the night before Sakura found and hid them. _

_End Flashback_

All of the cloaks lifted their left arms up in the air. Ino and Sakura both smirked when they heard the scared gasps of the bandits. Sakura turned the flaming arrow around at them all and held it.

"Master!" shouted a bandit. "What do we do?"

"YEEAH!" cried another one. "Who are these men?"

"What magic is this?!" a third one yelled.

"No one said ANYTHING about going up against magic!" all the men then began to agree.

The Golden Helmet clenched his jaw and stared at his men. Any moment there would be mutiny if he didn't step in, but he didn't know what to do. Soon he would have no choice, he would have to use _Secret Weapon_.

"Men calm down!" he crossed his arms across his chest and finally hopped off the second in command's back. "You're all sounding like a bunch of girls! Grow a pair alrea-DYYY!" he screeched out loud when the flaming arrow zoomed towards his face. He ducked down, and at that moment was very grateful for his golden helmet because the arrow hit that instead of his head.

"Master!" said Jiro. "Those four men used some sort of _magic_ and flung that arrow at you."

"No Jiro…really?" asked the Helmet with sarcasm.

Ryuu finally stood up straight and tall. "Final warning!" he yelled. "Leave, or prepare yourselves for the darkest magic you've ever seen!"

Even though his situation was grim, and nothing was in his favor the Helmet smirked.

"Looks like they've forced my hand." He said sounding defeated. He let out a sigh. "I never thought it would come to this but now it's time for the ace up my sleeve."

'_An ace?' _thought Sakura. _'Is he bluffing?'_

'_I hope Sakura is keeping her eyes open for any tricks.'_ Thought Ino. _'I don't think I can hold my concentration on my air puppets and anything he'll whip up next.'_

The Helmet began to sneer as he looked over at his coach again. "Yukiko!" he called out. The bandits reflexively flinched at the name.

"Yukiko?" Sakura whispered to herself. _'Is there someone else here?'_

Her question was quickly answered when the old man, along with the four robes, were all captured in a large black rope. The rope constricted tightly, and it was revealed to all that no humans were present in the robes. Now the old man squirmed as he fought against his restraint.

"Ah, I see you've already come out to play." The Helmet remarked as he looked over at the old man. "And this whole time I thought you were simply relaxing in the coach."  
A low throaty chuckle from a woman was heard. "I got bored of waiting…master…"

Sakura and Ino both stared over at the thick rope that was holding the old man. They had never seen that kind of rope before, it was large and unnatural. But then their confusion was clear when they finally saw the woman.

She was olive toned wearing tight leather pants and a tight black tank top showing much of her stomach and a lot of her cleavage. She wore golden bangles around her arms and the heels of her boots were tipped with gold. Not much was out of the ordinary with her, except for her hair.

It was long. Silky black. And it was wrapped around Ryuu.

'_Her hair!'_ thought Sakura as she stared at it stunned.

'_That's not a rope! Her hair is what is binding him!'_ Ino figured out. _'So this is his ace up the sleeve.'_


	9. New Plan! It'll EF You Up!

New Plan! It'll E-F You Up!

Yukiko, the black leather queen, was as silent as a killer as the very snake skin she wore. The deadly grip of her hair was not unlike a python's, and her looks could paralyze any of her prey as well as venom. Rumors made her seem like a bounty hunter since she only went after those with a price on their head, but here she was being ordered around by a man half her weight…if you weren't counting his gold hair piece.

While still having a firm grip on the old man, she approached him, her long hair unwavering despite her movements. She traced her nails along the contours of the man's face, and he coward beneath her touch. "Is this man bewitching these robes…master…" she inquired.

Ryuu found his eyes were locked with hers, they were a honey gold outlined in black eyeliner, and her pupils weren't exactly round but tilted in a snake-like manor. He could not be taken away from her gaze even if he killed himself; he felt these eyes would follow him even into the afterlife. They disturbed his very soul, and pierced it like talons.

The Golden Helmet clenched his fists with satisfaction and tried to repress his grin. His face twisted wildly with excitement.

"I see no other way! To think, that this man thought he could pull a fast one on me. It's…laughable I dare say. Am I right?"

He threw his head back and let of a screech that was meant to be his laugh. The other men, and villagers, covered their ears to the intrusive noise. When the Helmet saw no one else laughing along with him, he glared around. "None of you monkeys has a sense of humor?" he snarled.

Nervously, his men began to force out a laugh, but it was so pathetic that the Helmet only rolled his eyes. "How about _you_, Yukiko? Didn't you think that was funny?"

Without removing her eyes from the old man she let out a, "ha."

"See! See? If Yukiko thinks that I am funny, then I am funny! HO HO HO! Even the Golden Helmet can make a joke while on the job! HO HO HO!" he declared as he twirled around and flung his arms over his head. He no longer felt threatened by the mystery strangers, and was back to his cocky self.

Ino and Sakura knew that this would bread trouble. It was easy to fight knowing that they could do it from afar, but now…?

Sakura stared at the helpless Ryuu. "Looks like we'll have to go in there ourselves. It would have been easy if it was just the mindless thugs, but…her…she looks like she was born to kill."

"Slender legs with muscular calves…sculpted abs…definition in her arms…talon like fingers…and let's not forget about her freakish hair! That girl was designed to eat and breathe destruction!"

"INO!"

Sakura nearly fell out of her secret spot perched high on the tree. Ino was there so suddenly she thought at first it was only a projection of her instead of the real thing.

Ino's face stretched into a large grin. "Scared ya', didn't I?"

"ofcourseyouscaredme!" Sakura shot back in a low whisper. "How'd you getheresofast?"

"I just climbed the tree. Once I knew that the air puppets were no longer good, I thought it'd be best if we were together instead of separated."

Sakura sweat dropped, but Ino had a point. They'd be safer together, and this way they could make their next strategy. They both looked down at Yukiko and the others. They had to think fast, or it'd be too late for Ryuu, and the village.

"What's the problem here?" Sakura asked.

Ino looked at her questionably. "Is that a real question, or are you being rhetorical?"

"No, I mean…what do we have to accomplish here?"

Hesitantly, Ino answered. "Get these lunatics away from this village once and for all."

"Now how do we do that?"

"By destroying the head and his ace." Ino understood why Sakura was speaking all of this aloud. She was trying to get them to figure out their 'plan B' out loud, and together. Ino smiled. "To get rid of him, we'll have to get rid of _her_."

"And to get rid of her?" Sakura smirked at Ino as if she was reading her mind, and the way Ino responded with her own knowing smile made it seem like she did.

* * *

Shikamaru was the smart one in the group, so not much got passed him. Problem solving, strategies, puzzles, these were all up his street, so he only played dumb the first time he saw Neji and Princess Hinata near each other.

Both had the same eye color, and this wasn't just your average brown or blue. They were both _lavender_. It was odd, and he could tell that Neji seemed confused with this too. How could people with that different color _not_ be related? So Shikamaru began to think to himself everything he knew about the royal Hyuuga family.

'_They have trust issues. They've always had them.' _He managed to get into deep thought while keeping up a good running pace behind Naruto and Neji. _'They have guards, but when it comes to the crown they can only trust family, so some of their family members are the ones who protect those in line for the thrown.'_ Shikamaru stared curiously at the back of Neji. They never knew where he was from, not even he knew. The only thing he said that he was sure of was that his name was Neji, but what if he really was a Hyuuga? Shikamaru wondered if that would lead Neji to betraying them all to save Hinata. It was something he didn't want to think about, because Neji was one of his best friends, but it was a possibility.

"Shikamaru!"

He looked to his right and saw Sasuke next to him. "You've been slowing down. Is everything alright?" They continued to jump through the trees. Naruto and Neji, while still jumping through the branches, turned their heads to look at Shikamaru too.

"Sorry, just distracted."

"About what?" asked Neji. Shikamaru had to think on his toes.

"I was thinking….how far they might be."

Sasuke looked up at Neji. "Have you seen any trace of them?" he called up.

"I can get a better look if I stop for a minute."

Sasuke nodded his head. "Alright. Let's all stop."

Each of them came to a halt on a different branch. Shikamaru grabbed hold of his chest and took in some breaths. Thinking of his friend betraying them, while also running, _really_ wore a guy out. Sasuke was surprised to see Shikamaru so tired. Then he realized they were all working hard to recapture the princesses. He himself was glad for the chance to stop.

Naruto leaned against the tree, arms crossed. He stared at Neji hoping they would get some good news instead of them running blindly back towards the palace, which would be in the same direction as the people looking for the princesses.

Neji was busy being smug and scanning miles ahead of them for signs of the girls. He knew that without him they would be in a complete rut; this made him smirk. Then he quickly remembered that the only reason he had such a gift was because he was a Protector of an Elementalist.

This took some smugness out of his smirk since he still hated the fact that he was only born to protect someone else.

He only dwelled on those thoughts for a few seconds longer because he heard Sasuke clear his throat. "Well?"

"The thing is…I don't see them, or even traces of them."

Shaking his head in annoyance, Sasuke continued moving forward through the branches. "Hn, we've wasted enough time stopping. Now we have to make up for it." He got as far as Neji's when his voice stopped him.

"Wait. I see a village, and there's smoke."

He turned to look at Neji. "So?"

Shikamaru was the one to speak. "If there's a close by village then there's a chance that the four princesses went there to ask for help!"

"So should we go _there_?" asked Naruto.

"Well Sasuke?" Neji asked raising an eyebrow.

They all waited for his orders. Luckily they didn't have to wait long.

* * *

"I'm tired of all this waiting around! Shouldn't they have scared all of those bandits to us _hours_ ago?" Tenten stomped around in a circle for the nineteenth time. She had somehow managed her own little path in the amounts of times she had done it, but being able to control the earth had also helped.

Hinata sat on a boulder watching Tenten. She wasn't sure how to help her friend, or why she was even so anxious to encounter the large men in the first place. She wasn't even the one who had to take them out permanently by drowning them.

"It hasn't been hours, Tenten." More like years. Hinata just couldn't take someone else's life, but she was going to try and do it anyways.

"Hmp! I just want to really mess someone up, that's all. Especially people hurting innocent people not even half their size. Doesn't that just…PISS you off?" Hinata grimaced and nodded her head. "These assholes are going to pay! And when we're done with them, I say we forget about going home too!"

"Tenten…what…?"

"Yeah! That way we can go back and find Prince Sasuke's crew and kick their asses E-F Style!"

Tenten was charged with rage, Hinata couldn't see any way of stopping her, or where all this rage came from to begin with.

"Wha…what does E-F mean, Tenten?" _'Please let me distract her!'_

With a toothy grin, Tenten declared, "Elemental Four Style! E-F! It makes a lot more sense when you tell someone that we're going to EF them up! Get it?" she giggled.

"That is clever." Hinata admitted. Cautiously, she continued. "Tenten…I can see how badly you want to fight and all…but I can't help but think that this is being fueled by something else."

Tenten turned her back on Hinata right away…before it was too late.

"You're wrong!" she declared. "I'm pissed solely for these people, and for no other reason!" She took several step forward-in the direction most opposite Hinata-but that didn't stop the lavender-eyed princess.

"…Tenten?"

'_Damn it! Must resist! Do not look!' _she crossed her arms tightly over her chest and forced her eyes to shut. _'If I look…then I'll…'_

"Tenten, go ahead and tell me." Hinata prodded. When that didn't do anything, she quietly walked over next to her. Leaning in to look at Tenten's face, she began again. "Tenten, I'm your friend. You tell me everything, right?"

Slowly, but still resisting, Tenten peaked open her eyes to see Hinata's lavender ones. Instantly she wanted to let out her true feelings, because that's what happened every time Hinata looked at someone in earnest. They'd want to answer her no matter what it was she asked them.

"It's just…" Tenten began to feel awkward and hugged her arms for comfort. "…well…i'm…I'm STILL MAD THAT WE'VE BEEN CAUGHT IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

Hinata smiled, and Tenten let out an exasperated sigh of relief. "There, I said it. Now I just want to take out my frustration on someone, and they haven't been sent over to us yet. And…now that I think about that…I wonder if they're doing alright."

"You think they're in trouble?"

Anxiously, Tenten bounced on the balls of her feet. A part of her wanted to trust that Ino and Sakura were doing things according to plan and that the men would be chased over at any second. The other part of her began to feel as if they were in serious trouble, and were lying dead on the ground somewhere.

"Should we go see what the holdup is?" Tenten asked. "Maybe we can even help them out to move things along."

Hinata held her hands to her chest. "I'm not sure, but I hope they're okay."

"AUGH! This sucks!" Tenten stomped around her path for the twentieth time. "We're the Elemental Four! Shouldn't we be able to…I don't know…_feel_ it they're okay? Like…with magic? Or something?"

Hinata's eyes opened wide with that realization. Couldn't they do that? If they tried?

In the pit of her stomach, past the butterflies and uneasiness, Hinata for once felt the answer "yes".

In a quiet voice, Hinata said, "Let's try."

Tenten looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Try what?"

Clasping her hands tighter to her chest, Hinata looked over at Tenten desperately. "Let's try and feel if they're okay! I think it could really work."

It wasn't a bad idea, but, "Do you think we can?" Tenten asked.

The Earth Elementalist walked over to the water one and knew just by looking into her determined eyes that it at a high chance of working. With no more words to be exchanged, they smiled and closed their eyes. At first nothing happened, and then Tenten suggested, "We focus on them, with our minds and our hearts. Focus on them and on us."

"With all of our mind and heart, just think of only them and us."

* * *

With the situation back under his control, and the old magician, Ryuu, no longer able to pull any tricks because of his restraint, The Golden Helmet clapped his hands to gain everyone's attention.

"Now now, we've all had fun today. But seriously, I have other things to do and can't waste any more of my precious time with the likes of anyone of this village. I was planning on being nice and only destroying your homes, but now…I'm past the point of annoyed." His glare swept the cowering villagers. "If you don't give me my star…then Yukiko will kill you all one by one starting off with this magician and followed by every woman and child!"

The Helmet snapped his fingers, and Jiro came to attention. "Hand pick the second victim to be killed. In the mean time, Yukiko my pet, let's be done with this geezer."

"Yes…master…I'll end his struggling now. Jiro, allow me a young girl next…"

From the tree Ino and Sakura both watched in horror. They still weren't sure how to execute their new plan, but they had to act fast.

Sakura swallowed nothing. Her mouth was dry. "Ino…what should we…"

Ino slammed her hand on Sakura's shoulder, and grabbed her own heart with the other. "Sakura, can you feel that?"

She knew exactly what Ino was feeling, their hearts were pounding so hard they could hear one another's. A feeling that they could describe as warm carbonated water, encased their arms and legs. Scratches and dirt evaporated off of their bodies, and their muscles no longer were weakened with strain. Sakura could hear Ino's heart. Ino could hear Sakura's. And they both could hear two others in the distance.

"Tenten." said Ino.

"Hinata!" gasped Sakura.

It was both a long moment, and a short one. As fast as it had appeared, it was beginning to ebb away. Behind, it left the two girls feeling more powerful.

Ino was the first to let out a sigh of content. "They're glad that we're alright."

"And Tenten is acting impatiently." Sakura smiled. "So let's hurry up and get this going."

Ino nodded and they both jumped off their branch knowing that they would safely land on their feet. Into the clearing they appeared both graceful and powerful. Startling gasps came from everyone, but a strangled one came out of Ryuu.

"Old man!" Sakura yelled. Ino, with the wind on her heels charged full force at Yukiko's head with the intention of knocking it off. Instead it sent her flying fifty yards into the coach that shattered into splinters.

"Ino!" blushed Sakura. "How did you…when did you learn…that was…fucking AWESOME!"

"Hmp, course it was!" Ino brushed imaginary dust off her shoulder. "I tried to hold back, but with power like this? I did my best." She shrugged.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Okay, less impressed cocky bitch."

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!" cried The Golden Helmet. "WHO ARE YOU TWO? DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU'RE DEALING WITH?"

Sakura and Ino both smirked, "Do you know who you're looking at?" they asked.

"The Elemental Four!" Ryuu began to cry. His muscles ached from being crushed for so long, but with his will power he was able to make it onto two boney legs. He looked at his two saviors. "Take them out!" he pleaded. "Save this village!"

They nodded simultaneously. "Sakura, make the path!"

"Right!"

"JIROOO!" screeched The Golden Helmet. "I hate little girls! Take them out already!"

Jiro looked at the now demolished coach and the girl who easily defeated Yukiko.

"Bu..But master…"

"NO EXCUSES FALL IN LINE AND DO IT NOOOOOOOOOW!"

All the thugs got to their feet charged at Ino and Sakura, who both smiled to each other.


End file.
